This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/13/three-killed-boy-critical-kansas-shootings
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Three killed after shootings at Jewish centres in Kansas | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A man in his 70s opened fire with a shotgun outside a Jewish centre and nearby retirement community on Sunday, killing three people, authorities said. | |
| Overland Park police chief John Douglass said the attacks apparently occurred minutes apart. | |
| "Today is a sad and very tragic day," Douglass said. "As you might imagine we are only three hours into this investigation. There's a lot of innuendo and a lot of assertions going around. There is really very little hardcore information." | |
| Shots were fired behind the Jewish community centre of Greater Kansas City in a parking lot about 1pm, Douglass said. | |
| One male died at the scene, another died at a hospital. | |
| The gunman then fled and opened fire at nearby Village Shalom, killing a female, before later being arrested near an elementary school. Two other people were shot at, but the gunfire missed them, Douglass said. | |
| Douglass said it was too early in the investigation to determine if the shootings were hate crimes. The Jewish festival of Passover begins on Monday. | |
| "We know it was a vicious act of violence, and we know obviously it was at two Jewish facilities. One might make that assumption," Douglass said. | |
| He described the suspect as a white man in his 70s who is not from Kansas. He said the suspect is being held at the Johnson county detention centre, but did not provide further information. | |
| "We have no indication he knew the victims," Douglass said, adding that the suspect was not known to Kansas City-area authorities before the shootings. | |
| Douglass said a shotgun was used, and investigators were trying to determine whether a handgun and assault-style rifle also were involved. | |
| The Jewish centre, which was due to host a children's singing competition on Sunday afternoon, posted on its Facebook page that a "shooting incident" happened near its White Theatre entrance. | |
| "Everyone participating in JCC programming has been released to their homes," the center posted later Sunday. | |
| There was a heavy police presence at the campus, which spans several acres in an affluent area of Johnson county. Police had also taped off the entrance to Village Shalom on Sunday afternoon, and several patrol cars and a crime scene unit van were parked in front. | |
| St Louis resident Kristy Straeb, 47, said her sister-in-law Stacie Ventimiglia was at the centre's pool with a friend and four little girls under the age of 7 for a swimming lesson, which ended about 12:45pm. Straeb said they decided at the last minute to get the girls showered. | |
| "They had just gotten the four babies naked, and somebody yelled into the family locker room, 'We have an active shooter situation. You need to get safe,'" Straeb said. |