OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A shootout in Kansas left both a police officer and a hit-and-run suspect dead, authorities said.
Overland Park police Officer Mike Mosher died at a hospital Sunday evening, Police Chief Frank Donchez said. Mosher was off-duty but in uniform when he saw an apparent hit-and-run and pursued the suspect, which led to a shootout, police spokesman Officer John Lacy told news outlets.
The suspect died at the scene, Donchez said. Police didn’t immediately release a name. An interagency Johnson County team tasked with investigating police shootings will handle the case, the police chief said.
Police didn’t immediately say what led to the exchange of gunfire.
Mosher had been with the Overland Park department for nearly 15 years, and was named officer of the year in 2019. He is survived by a wife and daughter.
“But I know that I speak for Mike when I say that he was proud to be a police officer. It’s all he ever wanted to do. He loved what he did,” Donchez said, adding that Mosher was good at his job.
The police department had not lost an officer in the line of duty since 1985, news outlets reported Lacy said.
Mosher’s death “is a tragic reminder of the enormous debt of gratitude we owe the men and women in law enforcement for protecting our communities,” Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said in a statement.”
Overland Park is near the Missouri state line and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area.