A break-in at Lawrence City Hall ended in gunfire Monday when a city employee shot and killed a man who forced his way into a secured floor, police in the Kansas college town say. Police Chief Rich Lockhart said the 28-year-old man from Minnesota pushed into the building around 8am, then made it to the fourth floor, where he broke through a door into a restricted area housing the city manager, city attorney, and budget manager, NBC News reports.
There, he got into a confrontation with an armed municipal employee "trained and authorized to carry a firearm," Lockhart told reporters. During the struggle, the chief said, the employee shot the intruder, who died at the scene. Authorities have not released the names of either the dead man or the employee. Investigators also haven't said whether the intruder was armed or offered a motive.
"It's not someone that's known to us," Lockhart said, adding that it was unclear why the man headed for the fourth floor. "We are not aware of the 'why,'" Lockhart said, per the Lawrence Journal-World. "That's part of our investigation, to try and backtrack to when the person arrived here, why they were, and what was going on." The chief said the employee, who is not a police officer, is doing "as well as can be expected" under the circumstances.
City Hall was closed for the rest of the day and is expected to reopen Tuesday, though the municipal court housed in the same building will stay shut until Thursday. City Manager Craig Owens said he was thankful no staff members were injured and praised police for their response to what he called a "disturbing incident." The shooting occurred about two miles north of the University of Kansas campus.
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