NEWTON, Kan. — Three Kansas City, Kansas, homicide suspects were arrested Sunday night after a pursuit ended along Interstate 135 near Newton, according to the Newton Police Department.
Newton police and the Harvey County Sheriff’s Office were notified at about 11:08 p.m. that a vehicle connected to a Kansas City, Kansas, homicide was traveling west toward Newton on U.S. 50. The alert came from a Flock automatic license plate reader camera in Chase County.
A Harvey County sheriff’s deputy located the vehicle after it entered the county and attempted to conduct a traffic stop. The driver did not stop, police said.
Newton officers blocked exit ramps to prevent the vehicle from entering the city and deployed spike strips on I-135. The vehicle was disabled near the 36th Street exit, and three people were taken into custody without incident.
Police and sheriff’s deputies searched the area Monday and found guns and ammunition in a ditch and along the shoulder of I-135. Investigators believe the weapons were thrown from the moving vehicle shortly before the pursuit ended. Police said the guns are believed to have been used in the homicide.
Aaron Johnson, 18; Mark Elliott Nash Jr., 18; and Marquel McGee, 18, all of Kansas City, Kansas, were being held in the Harvey County Detention Center pending transfer to Wyandotte County. They face first-degree murder charges.
The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department said the suspects were wanted in connection with the shooting death of 64-year-old James Dodds on Sunday evening.
The case remains under investigation by the department’s Major Case Unit.