Randy A. Ridens Jr.

Ross P. Lane

Topeka Police Cpl. Jason Harwood

A man connected to Sunday’s Topeka police officer killing was supposed to be sentenced in another case Friday in Douglas County but didn’t show up for his hearing.

Randy A. Ridens Jr., 30, of Topeka was taken into custody early Monday morning in Linwood. The Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office identified Ridens as a person of interest in the death of Topeka Police Cpl. Jason E. Harwood, who was fatally shot after stopping a car in Topeka.

Ridens was charged in February with driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and interference with law enforcement, and he pleaded guilty in June, according to Douglas County District Court records.

After he failed to appear in court for his sentencing Friday in Lawrence, a $10,000 bench warrant for his arrest was issued. He had posted bond in that case in April.

The suspected shooter in Harwood’s killing, Ross P. Lane, 30, also of Topeka, was arrested Sunday evening in Lawrence.

Neither man had been formally charged in the officer’s killing Monday afternoon, but Shawnee County Sheriff Herman T. Jones said in a news release that he expected the Shawnee County district attorney to consider charges “in the near future.”

Harwood stopped a car about 4:45 p.m. Sunday near Sixth Street and Deer Creek Parkway in Topeka and was shot shortly afterward. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Harwood, 40, was a 15-year veteran of the police department. He leaves a wife and two children.

Jones said there may have been as many as three people in a blue/green passenger car that fled the shooting scene and was later located and impounded. He said detectives continue to investigate numerous leads and conduct interviews of witnesses and associates.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007 or detectives at 785-251-2200.