Manhunt in Kan. Ends With Arrest in Fatal Shooting

A 12-hour manhunt ended Sunday with the arrest of a man wanted for questioning in a shooting that left three dead and one wounded in eastern Kansas.

James Kahler, 46, was arrested about 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning, said Ashley Anstaett, a spokeswoman for attorney generals' office. He was from Columbia, Mo., she said.

Kansas authorities had been looking for Kahler since Saturday night and warned that he could be armed and dangerous. They would not say how Kahler was connected to the people who were shot.

A man with the same name and year of birth was scheduled for trial Wednesday in Columbia on a domestic assault charge that stemmed from an altercation with his wife in March.

The attorney in that case, Rusty Antel, said the couple was divorcing and his client had moved from Columbia to the Topeka area. He couldn't confirm his client was the same man arrested in the shooting.

The shooting was reported about 6 p.m. Saturday in Osage County, about 35 miles south of Topeka.

A Shawnee County deputy spotted a man and vehicle matching the shooter's description about 40 minutes later, Shawnee County Sheriff's deputy Brad Jones said. The man drove onto a private drive and fled on foot into a wooded area, he said.

Kahler was arrested nearly 12 hours later.

LeeAnn Smiley, a neighbor, said the owner of the house where the shooting happened was an elderly woman, Dorothy White, who had lived there for a long time. White had had people visiting her for the holidays, Smiley said.

Smiley said she had gone to buy groceries and wasn't home when the shooting happened. It wasn't clear whether White was among those injured.