Dodge City ? A former Dodge City police officer was charged Monday with second-degree murder in the shooting death of his former girlfriend.

Christopher Tahah, 33, was suspended from the city’s police department May 5, the same day that 31-year-old Erin L. Jones was shot to death at her Dodge City home. He was fired last week.

Tahah was arrested Friday in eastern Colorado after being chased on Interstate 70 in a sport utility vehicle that had been reported stolen in Denver, the Colorado State Patrol said. He remained jailed Monday in the Lincoln County, Colo., jail, on charges stemming from the chase.

Colorado authorities learned that Tahah was a suspect in the Kansas homicide after the arrest.

Ford County Attorney John Sauer said Monday he did not know when Tahah would be returned to Kansas.

“We just wait until he comes back into our jurisdiction, and then we proceed as normal,” Sauer said.

Police Chief John Ball said Tahah was with the police department for more than three years, starting in the records division. He later transferred to the patrol division, in which he was working at the time of the killing.

The city’s human resources director, Cherise Tieben, said Tahah was suspended with pay May 5 due to an internal investigation and was fired Thursday because he failed to cooperate. She said city policy prevented her from commenting on the subject of the investigation.

Tieben said Tahah did not have a previous record of disciplinary problems.

Jones, who worked as a bank teller in Dodge City, had two children. Her friend Heather Setree said Jones had broken up with Tahah about six weeks ago.

Jones was known in Dodge City for her performances with the Homestead Theater, including a role in the recent production of the musical comedy “Wild Women Never Get the Blues.”