Detective Brad Lancaster who was shot and killed Monday in Kansas City, Kan. got his start in law enforcement in St. Joseph.

Buchanan County Undersheriff Col. Bill Puett said the 39-year-old graduated from the law enforcement academy at Missouri Western State University in 1998.

“He went through the academy, did an outstanding job, then went to the Platte County Sheriff’s Office and then later went to Kansas City Kansas Police Department,” Puett said.  “That’s how I originally met Brad was by teaching him in the academy.”

Puett said several individuals that work in local law enforcement positions were classmates with Lancaster.

Police said Lancaster died at a hospital Monday about three hours after being shot near a racetrack in Kansas City, Kansas.

A suspect, 28-year-old Curtis Ayers, has been arrested. Ayers was shot by police during an attempted carjacking. He is in stable condition Tuesday at a hospital.

Ayers was charged Tuesday in Jackson County in connection with shooting a woman during an attempted carjacking in south Kansas City. He is charged with first-degree assault, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, resisting arrest and three counts of armed criminal action.

According to court records, Kansas City police were dispatched to the area of Bannister Road and Highway 71 on a vehicle that matched the description of a suspect vehicle involved in the shooting of a police officer in Kansas City, Kan. According to victims and witnesses there, Ayers fled that vehicle on foot and displayed a long gun. He confronted a woman travelling in her vehicle on Highway 71. He pointed a gun at her and told her to get out of her car. He shot two rounds at her vehicle.

The woman who was wounded was reported to have suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Prosecutors have requested Ayers be held on $250,000 cash bond.

The Fraternal Order of Police said a candlelight vigil in Lancaster’s memory is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall in Kansas City, Kansas.

(POST and AP Contributions)