Kansas Farmhouse Shooting Leaves Stephen McMillan Dead and Multiple Officers Injured Saturday Morning

Kansas — Stephen McMillan became the center of a devastating and chaotic ten-minute gunfire exchange on Saturday morning, an incident that shook the quiet farmland south of Topeka and left a grieving family and wounded community struggling to make sense of the violence. Authorities arrived at the rural property on South Topeka Avenue shortly after 10:24 a.m., responding to a 911 call from a woman inside the home reporting a disturbance involving the 22-year-old. What began as a routine response to a domestic conflict quickly escalated into one of the most dangerous scenes Osage County deputies had faced in years.

McMillan was standing outside when deputies approached, and according to investigators, the situation shifted rapidly. Without warning, he opened fire on the officers. Three Osage County deputies, along with a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper, were struck as bullets tore through the open area surrounding the farmhouse. The officers, fighting to secure cover and defend themselves, returned fire. In the exchange, McMillan was fatally struck, collapsing near the residence where moments earlier he had been confronted by law enforcement.

The violence did not end there. McMillan’s 77-year-old grandfather, standing somewhere behind the officers or near the property during the gunfire, was also hit. Investigators have yet to determine how or precisely when the elder family member was wounded. Despite the uncertainty around that detail, authorities confirmed he survived his injuries and remains hospitalized, with his condition improving and doctors expecting him to recover.

Meanwhile, the wounded officers were rushed to different medical facilities across the region. Two deputies required immediate surgery and, according to officials, are recovering well. Another deputy was treated and later released, able to return home to continue healing. The trooper who had been struck was transported to a medical center and remains in stable condition. Local leaders and law enforcement agencies across the state have expressed gratitude that all the injured officers are expected to survive.

Neighbors in the area described the McMillan family as kind, deeply faithful, and well-known for their involvement in the surrounding rural community. To them, the eruption of gunfire and the tragedy that unfolded was beyond comprehension. The image of patrol vehicles, ambulances, and investigators filling the long gravel road leading to the farmhouse is one no one in the area expected to see.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is now carefully reconstructing the timeline—reviewing body-camera footage, interviewing witnesses, and analyzing the ballistic evidence scattered along the property. Several unanswered questions remain, including what led McMillan to open fire, the circumstances that prompted the initial 911 call, and the exact path of the shots that injured his grandfather.

As the investigation continues, the community is left wrestling with grief, relief, fear, and gratitude all at once—grief for a young life lost, relief that officers survived, fear of how quickly violence erupted, and gratitude for every person who responded under immense danger.