Arcadia man found dead after domestic dispute

ARCADIA -- Sunday at approximately 3:09 a.m., Crawford County 911 received a call of a domestic dispute in which shots were fired at a vehicle.

Deputies responded to 500 E. Williams St. here after the call came in. Deputies made contact with Amber Schmitz, 31, of Arcadia, who reported that she and her husband, Justin Schmitz, 29, of Arcadia, had been arguing at their home. Amber Schmitz called her mother Linda Wort, also of Arcadia, for a ride to get her away from her husband temporarily. While leaving in Wort's car, Amber Schmitz reported that her husband came outside and shot at the car with a rifle, striking the vehicle three times. Neither of the two were injured by the gunfire and they were able to flee from the scene.

Deputies were setting up a perimeter at the scene when they noticed smoke coming from the roofline of the house. After repeated attempts to contact Justin Schmitz and after clearing vehicles and outbuildings, firefighters were able to enter the home and extinguish the fire before the home became fully engulfed. While in the house, firefighters found the body of Justin Schmitz, who was deceased. Cause of death is yet to be determined as there was a large amount of smoke in the home and Schmitz also had a gunshot wound. Schmitz body was taken to Topeka for an autopsy to determine cause of death. The Kansas Fire Marshal was contacted to investigate the cause o the fire.

Agencies responding to the incident included Arcadia Police and Fire, Arma Fire, Crawford County EMS and the Kansas State Fire Marshal. The incident is still under investigation.