An off-duty Wichita police officer killed an intruder who had entered his home and threatened him with a gun, Chief Gordon Ramsay said Tuesday.
The officer also was shot, but has since been released from the hospital, Ramsay said. He identified the man killed as 24-year-old Christian Webb. Officials did not identify the officer.
“This is everybody’s nightmare, to wake up to an intruder in your home with a weapon and threatening you and your family,” Ramsay said during a media briefing.
“We are very thankful that the officer should recover without any issues, and we pray for a speedy recovery for him and his family.”
He said police are still trying to determine whether the officer’s house was targeted or whether it was a random incident.
“That’s one thing that we’re very concerned about, and we’re doing everything we can to find the answer to it,” Ramsay said.
He said several vehicles near the house were broken into and that Webb might have been responsible.
Ramsay gave this account of the event:
At 3:17 a.m. Tuesday, police responded to a call of a shooting in a house near 21st and Maize. The off-duty officer, who was home with his wife and two children, was awoken by the sounds of an intruder.
The intruder had a firearm and began giving the officer orders. The officer grabbed his service weapon. He and the intruder exchanged fire.
The officer was shot once in the leg, and the intruder was shot multiple times. The officer’s wife and children were not injured.
Ramsay said there was not forced entry into the home. He said a door to the house may have been unlocked.
He said police are conducting an administrative investigation, which is standard for any shooting involving an officer.
He said the officer’s training likely played a role in how the incident played out.
“Officers train … how to shoot properly, assess threats and to take quick action,” Ramsay said. “So I would imagine that his training did play a big part of it.”
Tom Shine is the director of news and public affairs. Follow him on Twitter @thomaspshine.
