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KANSAS CITY (JTA) — An accused Nazi war criminal who was wounded in a shootout with police New Year's Eve has died.

Michael Kolnhofer died Sunday at the University of Kansas Medical Center, after lying unconscious since the shootout. He was 80.

The U.S. Justice Department had sought to revoke Kolnhofer's citizenship because he was suspected of concealing his wartime past when he immigrated to the United States.

The Croatian native was accused of being a guard at two concentration camps during World War II.

Kolnhofer was injured in an exchange of gunfire that ensued when reporters gathered at his home Dec. 31, after federal authorities filed denaturalization papers.

Kolnhofer rebuffed the journalists' initial inquiries and threatened them with a handgun. When police arrived at his suburban ranch home, Kolnhofer fired his weapon. They returned fire, striking Kolnhofer in the leg.

During surgery, doctors believe, Kolnhofer suffered brain damage. He never regained consciousness.

On Jan. 2, Kolnhofer was charged with three counts of aggravated assault against law enforcement officers. Because of his condition, the charges were never read in court, and now never will be.

The Office of Special Investigations, the Justice Department's Nazi-hunting arm, and the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a complaint alleging that Kolnhofer entered the German Waffen-SS in September 1942 and served as a guard at the Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald camps.

The complaint alleged that Kolnhofer lied about his World War II military service in order to enter the United States in 1952. He became a U.S. citizen in 1957.

Kolnhofer was charged with participating in the persecution of Jews and other civilians at Sachsenhausen, near Berlin. He was transferred in January, 1944, to Buchenwald, near Weimar, Germany.

"He never would have received a U.S. visa had he disclosed the truth," said Eli Rosenbaum, director of OSI.