Kansas Man Who Killed Two Cops Dies, Authorities Say


Topeka, KS — A Kansas man who shot two cops on Sunday has died, according to authorities on Monday. The man, who has a history of theft and weapons convictions, gunned the officers down while they were investigating possible drug activity.

The man, identified as David Edward Tiscareno, 22, was later killed during a standoff with police, reports The Miami Herald.

Hundreds of mourners gathered outside the Topeka police headquarters for a candlelight vigil in honor of Corporal David Gogian and Officer Jeff Atherly. Officer Kurtis VanDonge, a 31-year-old Army veteran who was in Atherly’s training class and later worked under Gogian, stated:

“You never really think you’re going to lose friends. Everybody, I think, is still in shock.”

Members of the slain officers’ families also attended the vigil, held on Monday night, where a bagpiper played “Amazing Grace” and a minister read from the Bible.

Yahoo! News notes that Tiscareno was sitting in a car stopped in the parking lot of a Topeka grocery store when three officers approached the vehicle and asked the occupants to get out. Tiscareno apparently got out of the car, shot two of the three officers, got back in, and drove off. The third officer returned fire.

Shawnee County Sheriff Herman Jones stated:

“There were people inside the store. There were residents who saw this going on. There were people driving. There was a multitude of witnesses there.”

Law enforcement officers later found Tiscareno, based on a tip, holed up in a home about a mile away from where the officers were shot. The officers attempted to negotiate with him but fired tear gas into the home once the negotiations broke down. Tiscareno emerged from the home and fired a single shot before officers returned fire.

Tiscareno was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

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