By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has release the names associated with the murder and subsequent suicide in Great Bend Friday morning. Just after 9:10 a.m., officers with the Great Bend Police Department were dispatched to Los Compadres Mexican Store, 1516 7th Street, in reference to an unknown disturbance call.
While officers were en route to the call, Barton County Communications dispatchers updated officers that the call involved a domestic dispute. Upon arrival, officers learned that 32-year-old Mario Martinez-Garcia had entered the workplace of 32-year-old Esmeralda Torres-Lopez, forcing her outside before shooting her. Torres-Lopez was transported to the University of Kansas Health Systems - Great Bend Campus, where she later died of her injuries.
Upon arrival, Great Bend police officers also observed a white Chevrolet pickup leaving the scene at a high rate of speed. Law enforcement officers from the GBPD and Barton County Sheriff's Office pursued the suspect vehicle south down U.S. 281 Highway into Stafford County.
Near St. John, officers were able to successfully deploy stop sticks to deflate the suspect vehicle's tires. The suspect vehicle continued west from 281 Highway onto U.S. 50 Highway. A deputy with the Barton County Sheriff's Office conducted a tactical vehicle intervention maneuver, which cause the pickup to leave the roadway and hit a barbed-wire fence. The truck came to rest in a field near mile marker 191 on Highway 50, just west of Southwest 5th Avenue.
Officers carefully approached the vehicle to gain sight of the driver. Martinez-Garcia was found deceased inside the vehicle with a gunshot wound to his head. He was also holding a handgun. Martinez-Garcia was pronounced deceased at 9:45 a.m., approximately 10 minutes before Torres-Lopez was pronounced deceased at the Great Bend hospital.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will continue to investigate the case with findings presented to the Stafford County Attorney for review. The investigation remains ongoing.
The Great Bend Police Department was assisted in this case by the Barton County Sheriff's Office, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Stafford County Sheriff's Office, and the St. John Police Department.