City of Pratt employee held at gunpoint; Wife listened on the phone

PRATT, Kan. (KSNW) — The man who led law enforcement on a multi-county chase on Monday pulled a gun on a City of Pratt employee. The victim’s wife was on the phone during the incident.

Catelyn Shaw says she was at home when her friend messaged her about the police chase. Soon after, her husband called during his lunch break at Casey’s. She was shocked by what she heard on the phone.

“He was like, ‘Oh my God, they just pulled into Casey’s.’ And I was like, ‘No way,’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, they did,'” explained Shaw.

The typical day took a turn as Shaw’s husband walked out of Casey’s and into the middle of a police chase. Shaw says he sought out safety inside of his work truck.

“He was on the phone with me, and next thing I know, I hear another man’s voice in the background. And he was like, ‘Get out,’ and my husband was like ‘No,'” she explained.

But the suspect pulled out a gun, so her husband got out of his truck. Shaw’s phone then went silent.

She and her children were flooded with fear. She says, “They could hear everything happening on the radio, and the older two were like, ‘Is daddy going to come home? Is he OK?'”

She ran to her neighbor’s house. The two decided to drive to Casey’s and check on her husband. They saw the suspect fly by on the way.

“He almost hit a semi head-on and swerved back over to the other side of the road and almost ran some other people off the road,” said Shaw.

She and her husband are safe. He returned to work Monday afternoon and reunited with his family in the evening.

“It was almost that sense of relief for me and the kids. They ran up to him and gave him a big hug, and my oldest was like, ‘I’m so glad you’re home, daddy,’ so it was a big thing for us,” explained Shaw.

Shaw explains she is in disbelief over the suspect’s brazen violence in broad daylight.

“Where are you at in your headspace that you could just randomly do that to a person and it not be an issue to you? You don’t know that they have a whole family at home, and you almost just took them away from their entire family,” she said.

The suspect behind the carjacking got shot by a Pratt County Sheriff’s Deputy after a chase in the work truck. He has been booked into jail after being treated in the hospital.