On a Wednesday evening in Hiawatha, Kansas, the life of a young law enforcement officer was tragically cut short. Twenty-one-year-old Todd Michael Widman, a White / Caucasian male, was on duty as a deputy sheriff for the Brown County Sheriff's Department on March 1, 2000. He responded to a report of a transient walking along U.S. Highway 73, but initially found no one.
About an hour later, he encountered a person matching the description and began to question him.
Believing the individual to be a runaway juvenile, Deputy Widman placed the 16-year-old in the front seat of his patrol car to transport him to the sheriff's department. Unbeknownst to the deputy, the young man had a handgun concealed in a duffel bag. While en route, the teenager pulled out the weapon and shot Deputy Widman multiple times. Despite his severe injuries, Widman was able to get out of his vehicle and radio for help before collapsing in the driveway of a nearby home. He was rushed to Hiawatha Community Hospital, but succumbed to his wounds shortly after his arrival.
The shooting of Deputy Widman sparked an immediate and intensive manhunt involving multiple law enforcement agencies. The 16-year-old suspect fled the scene, but was located by officers about an hour later, just west of Hiawatha. When confronted, the suspect opened fire on the officers. Law enforcement returned fire, and the juvenile was shot and killed at the scene. It was later revealed that the suspect was a transient. Deputy Widman had been with the Brown County Sheriff's Department for two years and was also a student at Washburn University, studying criminal justice.
