HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — A fugitive on a two-day rampage across Arkansas who police said had just fatally shot his pregnant former girlfriend was killed by a sheriff's sniper Friday as he tried to escape from authorities.
Todd Bostian, 32, had kidnapped 18-year-old Kacey Myers, police said, taking her along as he stole cars and broke into homes — a string of offenses that started in Sherwood, northeast of Little Rock, on Wednesday.
Police finally caught up to him Thursday night, when residents in a gated subdivision along Lake Hamilton near Hot Springs called deputies to say they saw a Ford Mustang that Bostian was believed to have stolen.
It turned out Bostian was hiding inside the home of Mike and Rhonda Keck. Mike Keck told police he'd met Bostian a couple of times at a race track and that they had no other connection.
A sniper team and negotiators arrived on Blue Heron Drive, a quiet street where many houses have boat docks, at about 9 p.m., Garland County sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rodney Neighbors said. But the negotiators could make no headway and at 3 a.m., Bostian emerged from the home, wearing a bullet-resistant vest and using Myers and Rhonda Keck to shield him from police.
Neighbors said Bostian fired shots while inside the house, then fired again when he came outside. Deputies returned fire, but Bostian was able to reach the boat dock behind the house.
"We were worried that with his reputation that this might happen if he got cornered," Neighbors said. "He'd run from everyone else."
Bostian climbed into the water and hid under a boat at the Kecks' dock, a party barge. He kept his head above water between the barge's pontoons, where a sniper killed him with a single shot, Neighbors said.
Rhonda Keck was shot in the leg and was being treated at a hospital. Neighbors said the wound was not life-threatening. He originally said Bostian had shot both women, but said later that investigators were waiting for ballistics tests to determine the origin of the shot that wounded Keck.
The Kecks did not immediately return a phone message left at their house.
The quiet Driftwood Estates subdivision is populated with couples in their 50s or older, said Lou Freiheit, who lives across the street from the Kecks. Freiheit, who leads the local neighborhood watch, said deputies evacuated residents for hours, though she chose to stay home and wait out the crisis in her basement with her cats.
"It's just a very unusual situation in our neighborhood," Freiheit said. If there is a crime, "the worst is someone takes a fishing pole off a dock."
Authorities said Bostian crashed a stolen car as he fled from police Wednesday in North Little Rock, then got away on foot. In an earlier chase, they said, he crashed a Cadillac and two men who were inside with him were arrested. They were linked to two burglaries.
From North Little Rock, Bostian drove to Ward, northeast of Little Rock, to the trailer where Myers lived and kidnapped her, police said.
Authorities said they tracked Bostian through his use of stolen credit cards, finding his image on store surveillance video. He had a number of prior convictions for property crimes — theft, and breaking into homes and businesses, police said.
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