4 soldiers, reserve cop arrested on suspicion of looting from store in tornado-ravaged town

GREENSBURG, Kan.-- Four soldiers and a reserve police officer were arrested Sunday on suspicion of looting cigarettes and alcohol from a store in this tornado-ravaged town, state officials said.

The soldiers from Fort Riley Army base and reserve police officer had come to assist on their own and were not part of any official detachment, said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the state's adjutant general.

"These were people who weren't supposed to be there," Bunting said.

Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the adjutant general's office, said the five were arrested at a Dillon's supermarket and were being held at the Pratt County Jail without bond. They have not yet been charged.

Watson said there were in uniform so police allowed them to come and go freely despite a town curfew. Watson said the officer was from a central Kansas community, but she was not sure which town.

In a separate incident, two people wearing Red Cross jackets who were not members of the relief agency were arrested Sunday on suspicion of looting, Watson said, although she did not have any additional details.

Pratt County sheriff's office did not immediately return a message seeking comment, nor did officials at Fort Riley.

Greensburg, a south-central Kansas town of about 1,500 people, was destroyed by a tornado that killed eight people in the town and injured scores of others.