Kan. Deputy Fatally Shot in Struggle During Illegal Fireworks Call

A Kansas deputy and a suspect died in a shootout Friday night, an official said Saturday.

Brandon Gaede, a 30-year-old deputy at the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office, died at 10:24 p.m. on Friday following the shoot-out in Phillipsburg, according to the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the shooting.

Kolton Griffith died at the scene. He was 27.

At 9:28 p.m. Friday, Gaede responded to a call about illegal, non-consumer-grade fireworks being detonated at 899 1st Street in Phillipsburg, which is a town of around 2,300 people a little over 200 miles northwest of Wichita.

Griffith lives at that address and is the “individual believed responsible for the fireworks,” Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Branden Stitt said in a news release Saturday morning.

“As the deputy attempted to place Griffith in handcuffs, a struggle broke out. Griffith pulled a concealed handgun and opened fire on the deputy,” Stitt said. “Despite being struck by gunfire, the deputy returned fire and hit Griffith multiple times. Griffith died at the scene.”

Gaede had worked as a jailer in Thomas County before joining the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy in 2017. Gaede was promoted from sergeant to undersheriff in July 2024, though he is currently was not the undersheriff, Stitt said.

Gaede is survived by his wife and their three young children, according to NWKS, a radio station in northwest Kansas. He graduated from Colby High School in 2013 and earned an associate’s degree from Colby Community College in 2015, the radio station said.

Farmers State Bank in Phillipsburg said on Facebook that an account has been set up at the bank to take donations for his family.

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