WARRENSBURG, Mo — Law enforcement authorities are investigating the accidental shooting death of a college student.

Just after 3:30p.m. the Department of Public Safety at the University of Central Missouri responded to a report of an accidental discharge of a firearm at an on-campus apartment, according to a media release from the school.

The accident resulted in the death of Stephon Abron, a student from St. Charles, Missouri. Campus officers immediately determined there was no ongoing threat to the community. The investigation has resulted in the arrest of a UCM student Jeremy Manley on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

“The UCM community is saddened by this tragedy. The university will offer assistance through the counseling center to students who may need support. The Employee Assistance Program is available to assist employees,” according to a statement the release.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and Warrensburg Police Department have been working with UCM Public Safety on the investigation.

Authorities have not released details surrounding the shooting.

KIOWA COUNTY —A teen suspect arrested in connection with a high-speed chase and crash that sent a Kansas deputy to the hospital remains in custody in Pratt County.

The chase initially started Thursday on the Kansas Turnpike, according to Lt. John Lenherr with the Kansas Highway Patrol. Troopers responded to reports of reckless driver on a motorcycle.  When authorities first observed the red 2001 Honda motorcycle, it was traveling at over 140 miles per hour, according to Lenherr. Due to the danger involved, troopers ultimately discontinued the pursuit and notified law enforcement agencies east of Wichita.

The suspect later identified as 18-year-old Isaac Mason of Wisconsin continued west quickly through Pratt County. Authorities in Kiowa County located the motorcycle on U.S. 54 just east of Greensburg, according to Sheriff Chris Tedder.

As officers turned to stop the vehicle, the motorcycle accelerated gaining about a half mile on the deputies and traveled into Greensburg.

During the pursuit into town, the driver of lead patrol unit Undersheriff Scott McCann lost control of a 2019 Dodge Charger. The vehicle hit a curb drove across Olive Street into a field, struck a sign and came to rest upright in a drainage ditch, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol

Authorities eventually stopped Mason at the Ford-Kiowa County line and took him into custody without further incident.

EMS transported McCann to Kiowa County Memorial Hospital and he was later transported by ambulance to Wichita, in stable but critical condition. The sheriff’s office has not provided an update on his condition. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Mason is being held on a $50,000 bond on requested charges that include aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer; use of a deadly weapon, Interference with a law enforcement officer; falsely report a crime intending to obstruct and felony failure to stop at an accident, according to online jail records.

SALINA —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a registered Kansas offender on new charges after an arrest.

Just after 11:30p.m. Monday, a patrol officer noticed a man on a blue BMX bicycle riding in the middle of the street in the 800 block of Windsor Drive in Salina, according to Captain Paul Forrester.

The officer attempted to make contact with the man, but he rode the bicycle into the front yard of a residence and then took off on foot behind the residence.

The officer gave chase and was able to apprehend Cody Talbot in the backyard of another residence further south on Windsor Drive, Forrester said.

Talbot had several outstanding felony warrants, two violations of the registered offender act, and an aggravated failure to appear, according to Forrester.

While searching Talbot and the backpack he was carrying, the officer found slightly less than three ounces of methamphetamine and two handguns.

In addition to the outstanding warrants, Talbot was arrested on requested charges of Possession with the intent to distribute a stimulant, No drug tax stamp, Possession of methamphetamine with prior conviction, Criminal possession of a firearm by a felon, Possession of drug paraphernalia, Interference with a law enforcement officer and Improper bike lamps or reflectors.  He has previous convictions for burglary, drugs and violations of the offender registration act, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

ROOKS COUNTY —The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism has offered new details about a mountain lion kills in Rooks County earlier this year.

The mountain lion, found in late January, was shot and killed by bird hunters, according to the KDWPT.

The department sent tissue samples to the U.S. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station in Missoula, Mont., for testing.

The results showed the male mountain lion had a 99.8 percent probability of belong to the South Dakota/Nebraska breeding population, which includes animals sampled from the Black Hills of South Dakota and western Nebraska, according to KDWPT.

For more information about wildlife sightings or other rare encounters, click HERE.

OSAGE COUNTY — A Kansas woman originally jailed on 20 counts of alleged animal cruelty has entered a plea agreement in the case.

On October 31, Christi L. Shaffer, 53, Lyndon, entered pleas of no contest, was convicted of two counts of animal cruelty and one count of allowing a dangerous animal to be at large, according to the sheriff’s department.

Shaffer was sentenced to the maximum sentence allowed by law on all counts and the sentences were ordered to run consecutive for a controlling sentence of 30 months in the Osage County jail.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Emotions that simmered for nearly a year over the renaming of an historic major thoroughfare in Kansas City, Missouri, for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led to a tense scene at a black church as get-out-the vote efforts wound down ahead of residents going to the polls.

About 100 supporters of keeping the King name for the 10-mile boulevard were at a rally to court voters Sunday when opponents walked into the Paseo Baptist Church and stood along its two aisles. Those against the King name stood silently and did not respond to calls for them to sit down. Several speakers and people in the crowd told them they were being disrespectful.

On Tuesday, the debate will end, as voters decide if Kansas City’s reputation as one of the largest cities in the U.S. without a street named for the iconic civil rights leader will cease. The boulevard had been named The Paseo, and a group named Save the Paseo collected 2,857 signatures in April — far more than the 1,700 needed — to have the name change put to a public vote. Many of the opponents who stepped inside the small church along the boulevard Sunday were wearing Save the Paseo T-shirts at the voter rally.

Many supporters of the Martin Luther King name have suggested the opponents are racist, saying Save the Paseo is a mostly white group and that many of its members don’t live on the street, which runs north to south through a largely black area of the city. They say removing the name would send a negative image of Kansas City to the rest of the world, and could hurt business and tourism.

Supporters of the Paseo name bristle at the allegations of racism, saying they have respect for King and want the city to find a way to honor him. They are opposed to the name change because they say the City Council did not follow city charter procedures when deciding on the name change and didn’t notify most residents on the street about the proposal. They also say The Paseo was an historic name for the city’s first boulevard, which was completed in 1899. The north end of the boulevard is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The City Council voted in January to rename the boulevard for King, responding to a yearslong effort from the city’s black leaders and pressure from the local chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization that King helped start.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a minister and former Kansas City mayor who has pushed the city to rename a street for King for years, was at Sunday’s rally. He said the protesters were welcome, but he asked them to consider the damage that would be done if Kansas City removed King’s name.

“I am standing here simply begging you to sit down. This is not appropriate in a church of Jesus Christ,” Cleaver told the group.

Tim Smith, who organized the protest, said it was designed to force the black Christian leaders who had mischaracterized the Save the Paseo group as racist to “say it to our faces.”

“If tonight, someone wants to characterize what we did as hostile, violent, or uncivil, it’s a mischaracterization of what happened,” Smith said. “We didn’t say anything, we didn’t do anything, we just stood.”

The Rev. Vernon Howard, president of the Kansas City chapter of the SCLU, told The Associated Press that the King street sign is a powerful symbol for everyone but particularly for black children.

“I think that only if you are a black child growing up in the inner city lacking the kind of resources, lacking the kinds of images and models for mentoring, modeling, vocation and career, can you actually understand what that name on that sign can mean to a child in this community,” Howard said.

If the sign were taken down, “the reverse will be true,” he said.

“What people will wonder in their minds and hearts is why and how something so good, uplifting and edifying, how can something like that be taken away?” he said.

But Diane Euston, a leader of the Save the Paseo group, said The Paseo “doesn’t just mean something to one community in Kansas City.”

“It means something to everyone in Kansas City,” she said. “It holds kind of a special place in so many people’s hearts and memories. It’s not just historical on paper, it’s historical in people’s memory. It’s very important to Kansas City.”

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a gas leak that left one dead and have identified the victim.

Just after 8p.m, Friday the Topeka Fire Department was dispatched to possible gas leak at a residence in the 900 block of SW Warren in Topeka, according to Lt. Shane Hilton.

Topeka Police were requested to assist with forcing entry into the home. Once inside, first responders found a woman later identified as 36-year-old Brandi Prchal.  She was pronounced deceased by medical personnel.

A second person was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

Due to suspicious circumstances witnessed by the responding officers, the residence was secured and Crime Scene Officers and Detectives were investigating the scene, according to Hilton.

Authorities have not released the cause of Prchal’s death or additional details.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating 16 more suspects on sex related charges after weekend arrests.

On Friday evening, police from the Wichita Police Vice Section, the Patrol South and Patrol West Community Response Teams and the Broadway Corridor Team worked together during a sex trafficking sting along the Broadway Corridor, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Police arrested 16 men including Melvin Teufel, Xong Vo, Terry Powers, Koby Konecne, Jamie De La Torre, Dagoberto Aguilar-Ramos, Michael Briggs, Shawn Craven, Christian Dunn, Vondell Kelly, Koby Konecne, Gerano Marin-Hernandez, Juan Martinez, Nabil Nikoula, Mark Rodriguez, Mario Sanchez and Raylon Snovelle on sex related charges. They also arrested  one other man for an outstanding warrant, according to Davidson.

This the 18th sex trafficking sting in Wichita this year resulting in 154 arrests including 27 women, according to Davidson.

Police reminded that those who come to the Broadway Corridor for this activity will be arrested.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas voters are deciding whether to end the state’s unusual policy of using its own numbers in addition to federal census data to redraw boundaries of state legislative districts.

The ballot in Tuesday’s election includes a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to eliminate a requirement for the state to adjust federal census figures when the Legislature redistricts itself.

The adjustment counts college students and military personnel not where they’re living but in a “permanent” home elsewhere. That’s outside Kansas for thousands of people and the practice has cost university towns some political clout.

Secretary of State Scott Schwab argues that the policy is outdated and says the next adjustment for 2022 would cost $835,000.

Kansas is among only a few states that adjust federal census figures for redistricting.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man serving a life sentence for killing a toddler has been sentenced to 13 ½ more years in prison for stabbing a guard at least three times in the abdomen with a shank.

34-year-old Mark Anthony Baker was sentenced to the extra time Friday for the Dec. 6, 2018, attack at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. Prosecutors say it happened after the officer denied Baker’s request to talk to a counselor. Records indicate that the officer spent one night in the hospital.

Baker previously was sentenced to life for the March 2011 killing his then-girlfriend’s 19-month-old son, Zane Pennington. A forensic pathologist testified that Zane suffered from severe head trauma and abdominal injuries.

In the plea, an aggravated criminal sodomy charge was dismissed.