Police: 2 Kansas Sheriff's Deputies Killed In Confrontation With Inmate

Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook  | Twitter

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (CBS/AP) — A second sheriff's deputy died early Saturday from injuries suffered when an inmate who was being transported in Kansas City overpowered two officers and may have used one of their guns to shoot them.

Kansas City, Kansas, police confirmed on their Facebook page that Deputy Theresa King, 44, died just after midnight following the shooting on Friday. Officer Patrick Rohrer, 35, died earlier.

Investigators said the inmate may have grabbed a weapon from one of the deputies during a struggle after he got out of a van in a gated area near the Wyandotte County Courthouse late Friday morning.

"It is very possible that with their own firearm, they were both shot," Wyandotte County sheriff's Maj. Kelli Bailiff said during a news conference Friday at the University of Kansas Hospital.

Rohrer had been with the department for seven years and King for 13 years.

According to Maj. Bailiff, the inmate was being taken across the street from the jail, to the services building, for a court hearing.

The inmate was taken in a van to a gated area behind the building, and when he got out of the van, he somehow overpowered and shot the deputies, Bailiff said.

During the confrontation, the inmate was also shot and was taken to a hospital. His condition was not known.

Bailiff said investigators do not believe the public is in any danger. Video from the scene showed the courthouse surrounded by yellow police tape, several police vehicles parked in the street and numerous uniformed law enforcement officers walking the grounds.

Kansas City, Kansas has dealt with other officer shootings in the recent years.

Two Kansas City officers were shot and killed within less than three months in 2016. Capt. Robert Melton was slain in July while searching for a suspect in a drive-by shooting. Melton was part of the police honor guard for Det. Brad Lancaster, who was fatally shot earlier in 2016 near the Kansas Speedway.

In 2015, Wyandotte County Deputy Scott Wood was shot seven times but survived.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)