FINNEY COUNTY — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is assisting officials investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting in SW Kansas.
On Monday police reported Master Patrol Officer Roger Montez of the Garden City Police Department was involved in the October 5 fatal shooting of Cristino Umana-Garcia.
Montez has been employed with the Garden City Police Department since 2008.
According to preliminary information in a media release from the KBI, deputies from the Finney County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a citizen just before 11:30 a.m. October 5, reporting a male subject who was behaving erratically, and whose vehicle had become stuck on an unmaintained road approximately 15 miles southwest of Garden City.
A deputy from the Sheriff’s Office arrived in the area just before 12 p.m. and located the subject later identified as Cristino Umana-Garcia armed with a knife, and holding it to his own throat.
Shortly after, the subject retreated to his vehicle and locked the doors. A second sheriff’s deputy and an officer from the Garden City Police Department arrived on the scene, and attempts were made to speak with the subject until he emerged from his vehicle and charged toward them. At that time two law enforcement officers, one from each agency, fired at the subject, fatally injuring him.
Umana-Garcia was pronounced dead at the scene. He had previous convictions for identify theft and forgery, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.
No law enforcement officers were injured during this incident.