SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of shoplifting that also sent to officers to the hospital after they rescued a drowning suspect.

Just after 9:30p.m.Thursday, police responded to report of a suspicious character call at Kohls in the 6900 Block of West Kellogg in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Police were told a group of individuals had shoplifted at the east Wichita Kohls, had arrived at the west location and were about to walk out of the store with $1,000 in clothing and other merchandise, according to Davidson.

As a male suspect and a 16-year-old were exiting the store with the merchandise, the store’s Loss Prevention staff confronted them. The two suspects dropped the merchandise and ran.

Loss Prevention staff identified for arriving officers the 16-year-old girl running through the parking lot. As officers attempted to contact her, she jumped into a nearby retention pond. The suspect swam to the middle of the pond and stated she could not swim. She swam to a shallow area and then made a second attempt to swim across the pond. She disappeared under the water, according to Davidson.

Two Wichita Police officers jumped in the pond and located the suspect and brought her to the surface. She was not breathing and unresponsive. The officers brought her to the shore where a third officer began CPR until Sedgwick County EMS arrived.

The girl was revived and taken to an area hospital where she remains hospitalized in critical condition, according to Davidson.

Due to bacteria in the pond, the two officers became violently ill and were taken to an area hospital, treated and released.

The two other larceny suspects fled the scene, according to Davidson.