FBI agents were pulled off nearly all their other assignments Friday to search for two men who gunned down a veteran agent.
More than 100 agents were working 12-hour shifts to investigate Wednesday night's killing of Special Agent Stanley C. Ronquest Jr., a 21-year FBI veteran.Ronquest was the first federal agent to be slain in Kansas City since the Union Station Massacre in 1933, when an agent and three police officers were killed by three men with machine guns while escorting bank robber Frank Nash back to the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan.
The killing Wednesday apparently was the result of a random street robbery and not related to Ronquest's job, said James C. Esposito, special agent in charge of the Kansas City office.
"We have stopped all investigations in this office except three or four that must go on," Esposito said.
Ronquest, 52, of Stafford, Va., was based in Washington. Officials said he was in Kansas City gathering documents for an investigation of links between organized crime and the Teamsters union.
A woman who gave Ronquest a ride from a restaurant to his hotel told police that two men approached him as he got out of her car and one said, "Give me your wallet or you're dead."
She said Ronquest and an attacker tumbled down a short flight of steps, and then she heard a gunshot. Both robbers fled, she told police.
The woman, whose name was not released, offered Ronquest a ride after the restaurant was evacuated because of a gas leak, the FBI said.
Esposito said Ronquest's revolver was the only thing missing. He said he did not believe the attackers saw Ronquest's FBI identification badge.