JOHNSON COUNTY— A Kansas police officer 29-year-old Jonah Oswald died Monday after he was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with a car theft suspect. Officer Oswald was a 4-year veteran of the Fairway Police Department.
"On behalf of Police Chief J.P. Thurlo and the Fairway Police Department, the City of Fairway would like to express its true appreciation of the outpouring of support and condolences regarding Officer Jonah Oswald’s death," the city wrote in a statement on Tuesday. Officer Oswald leaves behind a wife and two young children.
Many people and organizations have asked how they can help support Officer Oswald’s family. A fund has been established at the Public Safety Credit Union. His family will receive 100% of the money donated in his honor.
Click here to contribute. Donations may be made via Paypal, Venmo or in person. Price Chopper grocery stores is also collecting donations in all 52 Kansas City area stores from Aug. 9 to Aug. 22.
Just after 7:30 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a stolen vehicle call at the QuikTrip at 95th Street and Interstate 35, according to a media release from Lenexa Police.
Officers located that car and the suspect in the stolen vehicle struck one of Lenexa police department's patrol vehicles and drove away.
Police pursued the suspect northbound on Interstate 35 until the suspects left the vehicle and ran to a QuikTrip in the 4700 Block of Lamar Avenue in Mission.
Police from multiple agencies were trying to arrest the suspects when gunfire broke out. A suspect later identified as 40-year-old Shannon Wayne Marshall of Ashland City, Tennessee was shot and killed and Fairway Kansas police officer Jonah Oswald was shot and hospitalized. He died Monday.
The other suspect was arrested and later identified as 32-year-old Andrea Cothran of Portland Tennessee. She was charged in Johnson County court Tuesday with aggravated battery, fleeing law enforcement, felony theft and reckless driving. She remains jailed on a $1 million bond, according to online jail records.