KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 25-year-old man who on Sunday was suspected of wounding three Kansas City police officers and was later was killed in a firefight with officers was identified Monday as Marlin Mack.
The shooting suspect, who had been a person of interest in a July 6 killing of a college student, died in a shootout with police at a Kansas City home.
The officers are expected to recover. One officer was expected to be released from the hospital Monday; two others remain hospitalized.
Aided by 40 tips, police had spent a week searching for a man they said was a person on interest in the killing of Sharath Koppu, who was shot during a Kansas City robbery at J’s Fish and Chicken Market where he worked.
Police think Mack was the man seen in surveillance video at the restaurant prior to the robbery.
On Sunday, a crew of undercover detectives and tactical response officers found Mack holed up in the Sky Vu Motel on U.S. 40 near the Truman Sports Complex in east Kansas City, police said.
Mack allegedly traded gunfire with the officers, injuring two undercover detectives. He and an accomplice escaped, police said. The accomplice was arrested a short time later but Mack fled to a residence roughly 2 miles away, police said.
The earlier gunbattle set off a flurry of activity where additional officers descended upon the neighborhoods near the Police Department’s former East Patrol Division on Van Brunt Boulevard.
The congregants worshiping inside nearby churches were instructed to either quickly vacate the premises or take refuge in a safe location.
Within an hour another firefight between Mack and police broke out and a third officer was shot.