KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A recent Family Dollar shopping trip for one woman turned into what she called a traumatic experience, after Kansas City, Missouri, police shot a woman during a confrontation.
KSHB 41 News spoke with the woman anonymously to conceal her name and face to protect her safety.
"Somebody needs to speak up, because we stand for something or we all fall for anything," she said.
She said she saw KCPD officers engage with a woman in a car in the Family Dollar parking lot.
"The police officer says, 'She's armed, she's armed.' He shoots the fourth time, and another shoots, making it a total of five," the woman said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said KCPD officers told them the woman had a gun in her hand, but this eyewitness said she didn't sense a threat. The witness filmed the aftermath on her cell phone.
"I didn't feel in danger, even though it was right there," she said. "If I had seen a gun, I would've moved me and my kids, because she's a threat. But because she got out and talked to them for a while, that's not a threat to me. She didn't have anything on her in that moment. I can guarantee that with my own eyes." *
She also says she didn't see the officers render aid after shooting.
"The worst thing I've seen ever is the inconsistency in the love and care of certain people even after your job is done," the woman said. "She needed help."
She told KSHB 41 News it all unfolded with her own kids in her car.
"(I) had a 1-year-old with the door open and watched it, I couldn't leave him," the woman said. "He's traumatized. He's sitting up here reenacting what happened."
It's a night she's struggling to put behind her.
"Being put in a situation of trauma for the rest of your life, that's a grievance to me," she said. "There's not enough therapy that any of these groups can offer me."
KSHB 41 asked MSHP if they had interviewed this eyewitness as part of their investigation, but the patrol did not give a definitive yes-or-no answer.
* Editor's Note: This story was originally published on Monday, May 30. On Wednesday, June 1, the Jackson County Prosecutor's office released a photo showing Hale carrying a gun.
—
