LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (WDAF) — An active-duty soldier at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas is being hailed as a hero after police say he saved multiple lives by ending an active shooting Wednesday morning.
Leavenworth Police Chief Patrick Kitchens said officers were called to the Centennial Bridge at 11 a.m. for a report of shots fired that was originally reported as a result of road rage. When officers arrived they found one man with a gunshot wound and another man trapped under a car. Emergency crews took both to a Kansas City hospital with serious injuries.
As police investigated and spoke with witnesses they learned it wasn’t a road rage incident, but an active shooter who was stopped in the act.
“Learned this was an active shooter with multiple weapons on the bridge firing at cars with no particular association. There was an active-duty soldier assigned to Ft. Leavenworth waiting in traffic behind the event, saw the event unfold, determined it was an active shooter and intervened by striking the shooter with his vehicle, causing him to be critically injured, ending the encounter with the active shooter and likely saving countless lives,” Chief Kitchens said.
The man who suffered a gunshot wound is also an active duty soldier at Ft. Leavenworth. The shooter is a Platte County resident, police said.
The Centennial Bridge was closed for the emergency and reopened at about 4:45 p.m. The bridge spans the Missouri River and the state line between Kansas and Missouri. Authorities say the incident happened on the Kansas side of the bridge.
This is a developing story.
