Two Kansas cops were seriously wounded on Christmas morning after a man shot them before he turned the gun on himself, officials announced.
Malik Rogers, 24, a suspected domestic abuser, took his own life after he shot the officers while he had barricaded himself in his apartment, Wichita Police Captain Jason Stephens told reporters on Saturday.
The officers are expected to survive but Rogers could not be saved.
An employee at a local restaurant called cops at around 11:30 a.m. Friday and said she had been “physically battered” by Rogers, her boyfriend.
The 22-year-old woman said earlier in the day Rogers showed up to her home uninvited and attempted to break in through a window before a young child let him in.
When she confronted him, she said he pointed a gun at her and punched her in the face.
Rogers, who was out on parole for second-degree murder and aggravated assault, also allegedly grabbed the woman by the neck and assaulted her the day before.
Following their chat with the woman, officers went to Rogers’ apartment intending to arrest him on domestic violence charges.
The cops attempted to “verbally negotiate with him to convince him to submit an arrest,” however he instead locked himself inside the apartment’s bathroom.
Despite being shot by a taser, Rogers, who was much larger than the rookie officers, was able to fight off the cops when they attempted to physically arrest them before he shot them.
“One of the officers immediately forced entry into the bathroom door and was confronted by Malik Rogers, who was pointing a gun at them,” Stephens said.
“Mr. Rogers discharged that firearm at the officers two times, hitting one of the officers in the right arm and the other officer in the upper right leg.”
After he shot the officers, Rogers took to social media where he went live.
“In and around the same time, we became aware of a social media post where Mr. Rogers was essentially talking about having just shot two police officers, and a gun was visible on the live feed from that social media post,” Stephens said.
The apartment building was evacuated while a SWAT team and crisis negotiators responded to the scene to convince Rogers to surrender.
During the negotiations, law enforcement reported hearing a single gunshot, Stephens said.
Officers entered the apartment and confirmed that Rogers had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after trying to administer aid.
Neither of the two wounded officers fired their weapons during their encounter with the suspect, Stephens said. They were taken to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.