COLUMBUS, Kan. — The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation are investigating the shooting death of a man during a morning traffic stop.
Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Corbit at 1:05 a.m. initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle with only one functioning headlight on Highway 69, about three-fourths of a mile north of Lawton Road, according to a news release issued by Undersheriff Kent Soucy.
Corbit turned around and activated his car’s warning lights and the vehicle gradually slowed. When the vehicle had slowed to around 10 miles per hour, it went into the ditch and stopped about three-fourths of a mile south of Lawton Road.
Corbit approached the vehicle and determined that the driver was dead from an apparent gunshot wound to his head. The man was holding a shotgun. Corbit called for assistance.
Authorities are withholding the name of the dead man pending notification of family.
