On the evening of December 16, 2012, Topeka Police Officer Jeffrey Glenn Atherly, 29, was shot and killed while investigating a report of suspicious activity in a grocery store parking lot on SW Huntoon Street. Atherly, who had served with the Topeka Police Department for nearly two years, and Corporal David Gogian approached a vehicle occupied by three people. As the occupants exited, one person opened fire, fatally wounding both Atherly and Gogian. A third officer at the scene was not injured.

The shooter fled in the vehicle but was located the next morning barricaded inside a home on Third Street. A lengthy standoff ended when the suspect emerged armed and was shot and killed by police. The suspect had a prior criminal record and had recently completed probation; no arrests were made in connection with the killings because the sole perpetrator died during the standoff.

Did anyone in Topeka at the time witness the initial incident in the parking lot or the vehicle leaving the scene?