Authorities gather on Centennial Bridge after a shooting Wednesday, May 27, 2020, near Leavenworth, Kan. A Fort Leavenworth soldier is being credited with saving lives after he stopped a person who was randomly shooting on the bridge that connects Kansas and Missouri. (John Richmeier/Leavenworth Times via AP)
May 29, 2020 - 12:04 PM
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - A 37-year-old Kansas City-area man was charged Friday with attempted first-degree murder and eight other felonies after authorities say he randomly fired into traffic on a bridge that connects Kansas and Missouri.
The charges filed in Leavenworth County, Kansas, District Court against Jason Randell Westrem, of Houston City, Missouri, include four counts of firing into an occupied vehicle, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated endangerment of a child. Two children were passengers in a vehicle that came under fire Wednesday on the Centennial Bridge near Fort Leavenworth.
A soldier stationed at the Army post hit the shooter with his car to stop the firing. One person, also a soldier, was wounded, and the suspect was injured and remains hospitalized, according to Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson.
Thompson declined to comment about the details of the case ahead of court hearings. It was not immediately clear whether Westrem has an attorney.
Leavenworth police officers initially believed they were responding to a road rage incident on the bridge. Instead, they discovered that a man had been using multiple weapons to fire randomly at vehicles.
The soldier who ran over the gunman had been waiting in traffic when he saw what was happening.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020