Blue Alert canceled as suspect in Lee’s Summit shooting is taken into custody
Madison Stuerman
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Blue Alert issued after a Lee’s Summit police officer was shot on Sunday has been canceled.
According to a social media post from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the alert was canceled at 8 a.m. on Tuesday after Thomas Tolbert, 27, was taken into custody.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Tolbert was arrested in Ellis, Kansas, on Tuesday.
KBI said in a social media post that they received information that he might be in a hotel room in Ellis. Officers from the Hays Police Department, along with Ellis County Sheriff’s Office deputies and KBI agents took him into custody around 4:50 a.m. at the hotel room.
The original alert was issued on Monday after a police officer in Lee’s Summit was allegedly shot by Tolbert after a chase. Tolbert escaped the area in a vehicle that was found in Grandview.
Ellis Police said in a release that a witness reported they were asked by another person to drive Tolbert from Kansas City to Colorado, not knowing they were connected to the Blue Alert. Witnesses said he gave them a fake name and started acting suspicious. The witness told them that while stopped at the hotel for the night, they saw the Blue Alert and contacted police.
Ellis police requested activation of the Hays Police Department’s Special Situation Response Team. Adjacent hotel rooms were evacuated.
Tolbert was taken into custody after a brief struggle and tased.