A rare statewide Blue Alert has been canceled after the suspect who shot a Lee’s Summit police officer multiple times was captured in Kansas. Kansas City television station KMBC reports 27-year-old Thomas Eugene Tolbert was captured at a hotel in Ellis, Kansas.
Missouri state troopers have said Tolbert has a history of aggravated assault and shooting at law enforcement officers. Sunday night’s shooting happened during a domestic disturbance in Lee’s Summit, which is 125 miles from Columbia. KMBC reports the officer was shot four times at point-blank range, with one of the shots impacting the vest over the officer’s heart. The officer remains in serious condition, according to KMBC.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) says Ellis was captured at about 4:50 Tuesday morning at a hotel in Ellis. The KBI says officers from the Hays PD, deputies from Ellis County Kansas and the KBI took him into custody at the hotel. Tolbert has been arrested Missouri warrants for numerous charges relating to shooting the Lee’s Summit police officer.
