TOPEKA (KSNT) – Governor Laura Kelly directed flags to be flown at half-staff later this week.
Flags will be flown at half-staff following an executive order from Kelly’s office to honor Hays Police Sergeant Scott Heimann, who was killed in the line of duty on Sept. 28, 2025. The half-staff order runs from sunup to sundown on Friday, Oct. 3.
“For nearly a decade, Sergeant Heimann was committed to protecting those in Hays, and he made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his community. His sacrifice is a debt that we will never forget or be able to repay. My sincere condolences go out to his family and loved ones as they mourn this tragedy, and to all Kansans as we grieve our state’s fourth line-of-duty death in the last three months.”
Governor Laura Kelly
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Officers with the Hays Police Department and a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper were setting up a perimeter for a domestic violence-related incident around 1:55 a.m. on Sept. 28 in the 2200 block of Downing Street in Hays when a single shot was fired, striking Heimann. He was flown to a regional hospital, where he died from his injuries just after 4 a.m. on the same day.
This is the fourth month in a row that a line-of-duty death has happened in Kansas. In June, Phillips County sheriff’s deputy Brandon Gaede was responding to an illegal fireworks call and got shot while trying to arrest the suspect. Less than a month later, Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Deputy Elijah Ming was shot during a call for a domestic violence situation. Then, in August, Kansas City, Kansas, police officer Hunter Simoncic got hit by a car while a suspect was trying to flee from officers.
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