Two Wyandotte County sheriff’s deputies have died from their injuries after being shot near the county courthouse Friday morning.
KCK Police announced Deputy Theresa King, 44, died from her injuries overnight. She was a 13-year veteran of the department.
On Friday afternoon, authorities said Deputy Patrick Rohrer, 35, was also killed in the shooting. He was a seven-year veteran of the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy Rohrer and Deputy King are the first line of duty deaths for the office since August 4, 1984, when Deputy Sheriff James L. Reynolds was killed during a vehicle pursuit.
(Learn More. A Wyandotte County sheriff’s deputy is dead and another is in critical condition after they were shot near the county courthouse Friday morning. Courtesy of 41 Action News and YouTube. Posted on Jun 15, 2018.)
The two Wyandotte County deputies were transporting inmates to court at 11:30 a.m. CT Friday, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Maj. Kelli Bailiff said at a news conference.
When they pulled into a parking lot outside the county courthouse, the deputies were “overcome,” Bailiff said.
“It is very possible that with their own firearm, they were both shot,” she said.
The suspect in the shooting, Antoine Fielder, 30, was also shot and taken to the hospital.
Fielder was being held in Wyandotte County on multiple charges from Dec. 29, 2017, including aggravated assault, aggravated battery and aggravated criminal sodomy.
He was being held on $500,000 bond on each charge.
(On Friday, June 15, 2018, Wyandotte County Deputy Patrick Rohrer was killed & another deputy shot by a suspect named Antoine Fielder, a prisoner they were transporting to a court hearing at the Wyandotte County courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas, USA. Courtesy of Q&A News and YouTube. Posted on Jun 15, 2018.)
Fielder had previously been charged in the death of 22-year-old Kelsey Ewonus, who had been found dead in her car from an apparent gunshot wound.
Fielder stood over Harmon and fired several shots at her, the court documents allege.
He went to trial twice in Wyandotte County on first-degree murder charges in Kelsey Ewonus’s 2015 murder, but mistrials were declared when juries twice could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Prosecutors blame the mistrials on witness tampering and claim he intimidated people he planned to testify in the case.
Prosecutors dismissed the charge against Fielder after the second hung jury and he was freed from jail.
Then in April, prosecutors in Jackson County, Mo., charged Fielder with murder in the Dec. 26 the shooting death of Rosemarie Harmon.
Fielder was also facing first-degree assault charges and two counts of armed criminal action. He allegedly shot and injured Harmon’s friend after killing her.
(Antoine Fielder is the subject of an investigation that crosses state lines and involves multiple homicide cases. Courtesy of 41 Action News and YouTube. Posted on Apr 4, 2018.)
KCK police are going over surveillance video of Friday’s incident and are assisting the sheriff’s office with the investigation.
The Kansas City Royals held a moment of silence in honor of Rohrer on Friday night.
Only half a block away from the scene of Friday’s deadly shooting stands a Fallen Officer’s Memorial with engraved quote from Abraham Lincoln reads, “We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.”
#ThinBlueLine #WeStandWithWyCo pic.twitter.com/KsMhX11tYj
— Governor Jeff Colyer (@GovJeffColyer) June 15, 2018
Family of metro murder victim says suspect in WyCo deputy shooting could have been stopped
By Shannon O’Brien, Fox4KC
As the families of the two Wyandotte County deputies shot Friday in KCK mourn the loss of one and pray for the second, an Overland Park family is grieving along with them.
Antoine Fielder is a name the family of 22-year-old Kelsey Ewonus has heard way too many times for way too long. The first time was in 2015 when Fielder was charged with murdering their daughter.
“I thought, ‘Oh please, is this the never-ending story?’ It needs to go away. It needs to stop. It never should have gotten this far to begin with,” said Kelsey’s mother, Ginger Ewonus.
Ginger and Kent Ewonus said the justice system had an opportunity to put Fielder away years ago and avoid Friday’s tragedy.
Fielder was tried twice for the murder of Kelsey Ewonus, and both times the trials ended in hung juries.
“The evidence was overwhelming. I think the people in KCK are afraid they will not tell the truth, and they would rather have a scum bag like that out on the streets than they would to put someone who is obviously very evil in prison,” Kelsey’s dad Kent Ewonus said.
After two hung juries, the murder charges against Fielder were eventually dropped by Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Mupree, and Fielder was set free.
(The man suspected of shooting two Wyandotte County deputies Friday morning has a lengthy history with the law. Courtesy of 41 Action News and YouTube. Posted on Jun 15, 2018.)
“When we met with them and they told us they were not going to do a third trial, I told Mark Dupree that I knew without any doubt in my mind that he would kill again,” Kent Ewonus said.
“I think Mark Dupree at that time said that they have a way, that people like him end up back in the legal system and that he, Mark Dupree, felt like yeah they would see him again.”
Just two months ago, Dupree stood with Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker to announce Fielder was yet again charged with murder — this time in the death of Rosemarie Harmon, who was shot dead in 2017.
Kent and Ginger Ewonus said Fielder isn’t the only person to blame for Harmon’s murder or the shooting of the two Wyandotte County deputies.
“I blame the juries and I blame the judge in the trial who would not let evidence in that would have overwhelmingly convicted him,” Kent Ewonus said.
“I think I am disgusted with a system that would allow such an evil individual to be out on the streets.”
“I just will pray for these families who lost their loved ones today because I know how that feels and they don`t deserve it,” Ginger Ewonus said.As this tragedy brings back waves of emotion for the loss of their daughter, the Ewonus family stands with the other families who have unwillingly joined their tragic club.
FOX4 reached out to Dupree, but he was unavailable for comment.
Original post http://fox4kc.com/2018/06/15/family-of-metro-murder-victim-says-suspect-in-wyco-deputy-shooting-could-have-been-stopped/
Editor’s note: Our thoughts and prayers are with the family’s of Deputy Rohrer an Deputy King, both blood and blue, along with the families of the other victims noted above.
May Deputy Rohrer and Deputy King rest easy. We are grateful to them for serving their community with pride and distinction. They will be missed, but never forgotten.
