Police officers, drug suspects wounded in Kansas shootout

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Multiple police officers and suspects were shot Wednesday in a gunbattle during an undercover fentanyl trafficking investigation in Kansas City, Kansas, authorities said. All were expected to survive.

Three officers were wounded, along with three men who were alleged targets of the sting, authorities said.

Undercover investigators had previously bought fentanyl from the suspects and were trying to make another purchase Wednesday, Police Chief Karl Oakman said. But, he said, it fell through, and a shootout erupted between the heavily armed suspects and the agents.

The three officers who were shot had arrived in marked police cars to help their undercover colleagues, Oakman said.

Police believe all the suspects are in custody.

The chief said police have been investigating a fentanyl influx into the city for months, but the operation that resulted in the shootout began a few days ago.

Dr. Sean Kumer, associate chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System, said the officers who were brought to the hospital and all of the shooting patients the facility treated were in stable condition with injuries that were not life-threatening. They were able to converse with their doctors.

City police asked their counterparts in neighboring Kansas City, Missouri, to investigate the shootings. That police department said later Wednesday that homicide detectives and crime scene personnel were speaking with witnesses and processing the scene for evidence.