Topeka, Kansas

From the Topeka Capital-Journal of April 2, 2006
Requires free registration

Bar holdup ends in death

A man believed responsible for a home invasion late Friday in the Oakland area was shot to death shortly after midnight after he assaulted a bar manager during an attempted robbery, police said Saturday.

The crime spree also left two people injured.

Police found Russell Joe Collins, 23, of Topeka, dead from a gunshot wound just after midnight Friday, lying in the 700 block of S.W. 2nd Street between Taylor and Polk. Collins was identified as one of two men who earlier had burglarized an Oakland home and assaulted an elderly man in the process, said police spokeswoman Kristi Pankratz.

His alleged accomplice, Bobby Lee Cott, 19, 405 S.W. Tyler, was arrested in connection with numerous offenses when police responded to a robbery in progress at the Bavarian Inn, 712 S.W. 2nd St.

According to a police report, the sequence of events began at 11:15 p.m. when Collins and Cott forced their way into a home at 408 N.E. Strait in Topeka's Oakland area. During the burglary, the two were confronted by a resident, James Noland, 75, who suffered a stab wound when one of the intruders attacked him with a knife, police said.

Noland was taken by American Medical Response ambulance to Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center, where the hospital wouldn't comment on his condition Saturday. Police said his condition wasn't life threatening.

His 83-year-old wife, Vida, was home when the attack occurred, but she wasn't harmed, police said. A .22-caliber rifle was taken in the break-in.

Officers were at 408 N.E. Strait when they were called to the robbery at the Bavarian Inn.

"An employee of the Bavarian was beaten and during the struggle, got ahold of a firearm and fired at his assailants," Pankratz said.

On Saturday afternoon, patrons in the Bavarian Inn said employees had been closing the business for the night when two men entered armed with a knife and a rifle.
…

Collins' death was being investigated, and police said self-defense was among the aspects being considered.