RICE COUNTY – A standoff with a suspect who shot Rice County Sheriff Bryant Evans and Undersheriff Chad Murphy Monday evening ended just after midnight on Tuesday morning, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced.
The KBI held a news conference Tuesday morning at the Rice County Sheriff’s Office and released more information, noting no threat to the public exists any longer as a result of the shooting.
At approximately 12:10 a.m. Tuesday, authorities located the body of David L. Madden, 37, of Alden, inside the residence at 490 Avenue S. in Raymond. Also found deceased in the home was Thomas T. Madden, 65, the father of the suspect and owner of the home where the standoff occurred.
The investigation suggested that when Madden shot the undersheriff, a female and a child accompanied him in the vehicle. Madden then fled the area and drove to his residence in Alden to retrieve guns and ammunition.
After that, he went to his father’s home, where it is believed he fatally shot Thomas Madden prior to the sheriff and deputy arriving. Then it is believed the female left the scene. A short time later, when the sheriff arrived at approximately 5:40 p.m., he was fired upon and shot in the leg.
After Sheriff Evans was shot, Madden exchanged gunfire with additional responding law enforcement officers. Over the next several hours, the Kansas Highway Patrol’s Special Sheriff’s Office, the Wichita Police Department, the Rice County Sheriff’s Office, the Sterling Police Department, the Lyons Police Department and many other law enforcement agencies, including the Barton County Sheriff’s Office and Ellinwood Police Department, attempted to safely determine the suspect’s location in the home.
Authorities deployed rapid response teams, all-terrain vehicles, K-9s, a robot, a drone and thermal imaging equipment at the location. There was a massive law enforcement presence as officers scoured the area for the suspects and engaged in the standoff.
The first body located by that of Thomas Madden. Then, at approximately 12:10 a.m., authorities located the body of David Madden, which ended the standoff. It is suspected that David Madden died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
KBI agents and the Crime Scene Response Team remained in Rice County Tuesday afternoon, interviewing witnesses and assisting the Rice County Sheriff’s Office in processing multiple crime scenes.
The shooter had outstanding warrants
Preliminary information indicated that at about 5:10 p.m. Monday, Murphy attempted a car stop near the Sonic Restaurant, just north of the Sterling city limits. The car stop was related to a warrant for the vehicle’s occupant, David L. Madden.
Within about 30 seconds of initiating the car stop, Murphy radioed to dispatch that he had been shot. EMS responded and he was flown to a Wichita hospital. He is being treated for four gunshot wounds and at last report was in critical, but stable condition.
Following the shooting of Murphy, Evans learned Madden likely fled to his father’s residence southeast of Raymond. He and another Rice County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived at the residence and encountered the suspect. Gunshots were exchanged, and one round struck the sheriff in the leg.
The sheriff and deputy called for assistance and additional law enforcement agencies responded. Authorities were able to surround the home, establishing a perimeter.
The sheriff was taken to the Rice County District Hospital in Lyons and was then transported to a Wichita hospital. He was later released from the hospital.
Suspected in woman's disappearance
David Madden was a suspect in the 2015 disappearance of Megan Fogelsong, and was also indicted last week on federal firearms charges.
It was last Tuesday that Madden was indicted on in a Wichita federal court, charged with one count of unlawful possession of a machine gun. The crime is alleged to have occurred Feb. 22, 2017, in Rice County.
The KBI confirmed Madden served in the U.S. Marine Corps and smuggled an AK-47 into the country from Iraq. The agency also noted a KBI agent investigating the case of missing woman Megan Foglesong received information that Madden was suspected to be involved with explosives or explosive materials.
The agent then notified the ATF.
According to the Rice County Sheriff’s Department and the Barton County Sheriff’s Office, Foglesong, who was then 21, was last seen in late November 2015. Her last known whereabouts were at Alden. She was also possibly in Great Bend, Ellinwood or Larned at the time of her disappearance.
She has not had any contact with family or friends since her disappearance. There has been no cellphone activity or social media contact.
Also, in February 2017, Madden led law enforcement on a high-speed chase from Ellinwood through Barton and Rice counties before engaging in a standoff with officers at his Alden home. Before surrendering and being arrested, he sped from the scene in Ellinwood at about 3 p.m. Speeds reached up to 90 miles per hour as Ellinwood police officers pursued him into Rice County.
He was charged with assault of a law enforcement officer after threatening to drive head-on into a Sterling police officer, and in Ellinwood, he faced counts of driving with a suspended license as a habitual offender, and felony flee and elude.
On two separate occasions, the document says, AFT agents searched Madden’s home and found crates containing 24 separate metal pipe bombs and the AK-47, which was not registered.
Additional reporting by Susan Thacker/Great Bend Tribune.
