Lawrence police identify individual killed during City Hall break-in as Minnesota man
By JoBeth Davis, Eric Graves
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LAWRENCE, Kansas (KMBC) — Lawrence, Kansas, police say City Hall has been closed after an altercation Monday morning.
Lawrence police posted on Facebook Monday morning that police and medical units were at City Hall on East Sixth Street “after an altercation occurred.”
As a result, City Hall was closed, and the public was asked to avoid the area.
In a news conference shortly before 11 a.m., police said the incident happened Monday around 8 a.m. and involved an armed city employee and an intruder.
Police said the intruder forced his way into City Hall through a backdoor.
“The intruder had entered the building, gone up the stairway, broken out a glass window in the fourth-floor stairwell door, and city employees encountered him up there,” said police Chief Rick Lockhart.
Police said a fight ensued between the city employees and the intruder. During the fight, an armed city employee shot and killed the intruder. LPD confirmed the city employee who shot the suspect was trained and authorized to carry a gun at City Hall.
Authorities are now reviewing surveillance footage and are working to determine what led up to that break-in and shooting.
Lockhart said the intruder, identified only as a 28-year-old man from out of state, had no history with Lawrence police.
“It’s somebody who’s unfamiliar to the police,” Lockhart said. “So, that’s part of our investigation is to try and backtrack, when the person arrived here, why they were here, what was going on.”
City Manager Craig Owens called the incident “disturbing” but said no city employees were hurt. The fourth floor is home to the offices of the city manager, city attorney and budget manager.
“I don’t know that that was necessarily a target or that this person would have known that,” Lockhart said. “But it’s just it’s the top floor, so it could be that the person was in the stairwell and just happened to get there and come out.”
During the press conference, Lockhart said investigators are still working to determine if the suspect was armed.
The city employee will be placed on administrative leave. No city employees were hurt during the incident.
An update was provided to say City Hall will remain closed all day Monday.
Officials said all City Hall-based services will be unavailable Monday, including Planning & Development Services, Municipal Court, and Utility Billing. All court dockets are canceled.
“We’ve got to make sure that we have everything ready for people to be welcome back in,” said Lockhart. “So we just need some time to work through all that.”
Court is not expected to reconvene at City Hall until Thursday at the earliest.
On Tuesday, Lawrence Police identified the alleged intruder as 28-year-old Omar Dominguez Gavilan from Buffalo, Minnesota.
Police said investigators have learned that Gavilan was traveling through Kansas on a Greyhound bus. Early Sunday evening has was noted to be at the Kansas Turnpike Authority service station on Interstate 70, just east of Lawrence. The Kansas Highway Patrol was called to remove Gavilan from the service area due to alleged erratic behavior.
KHP troopers took Gavilan to the Amtrak station in Lawrence.
Gavilan then entered Lawrence City Hall through a locked back door before proceeding up to the fourth floor where he encountered the armed city employee described as an on-duty court security officer.
The CSO reportedly asked Gavilan to put his hands behind his back. When he didn’t comply, authorities said Gavilan began fighting the security officer.
Police said at this time they do not intend to release details of the fight until the investigation is complete.
Detectives expect to have a full report of the events sent to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office for review within the next two to three weeks.
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