KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department officers were involved in a shooting Sunday night at East 55th Street and Prospect Avenue.
Officers were called to a gas station in the area around 9:45 p.m. in an attempt to make contact with a person in a possibly stolen vehicle.
KSHB 41 News viewed surveillance video of the incident, which appears to show a man get into the SUV as it was parked in front of the gas station's doors.
A KCPD police car pulled up to the back left side of the SUV and two officers got out, guns drawn. There is no audio, so it's unclear what, if anything, the officers said. But they appeared to be yelling something at the man.
Shortly after, a white police van pulled up to the back right side of the SUV.
The video shows the SUV back out of the parking space. Officers attempted to talk to the person, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is now investigating the incident.
The gas station clerk, Adeem Syed, watched everything unfold.
"I think they were waiting for him," Syed said. "That somebody come and sit in the car so they might be know who belongs to that car. After that, as soon as he sat in the car, they pulled over and put lights on him."
After backing up, the SUV accelerated forward and struck the police van. The officer who got out of the driver's side of the van had to step out of the way to avoid being hit by the SUV.
Police appeared to open fire at the SUV after it accelerated toward the white van and a KCPD officer. After the suspect was shot, the SUV rolled away from the van and struck something out of frame before coming to a stop.
Syed said it looked like police pulled the man out of the SUV and attempted CPR, but he later died.
"Anytime when there's violence in your community there's a high level of concern, not just for law enforcement but for the community at large," MSHP Sgt. Bill Lowe said. "It's an issue that law enforcement has to work with the community to make it better."
MSHP reports the suspect was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
No police officers were injured in the encounter.
The MSHP Division of Drug and Crime Control and handling the shooting investigation.
KCPD policy said officers "generally should not discharge a firearm at a moving vehicle or from a moving vehicle unless the need to use deadly force is immediate."
When the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office receives the case from MSHP, it will determine whether the use of force was justified. Court precedent stipulates that the totality of the facts and circumstances known to officer at the time they used force should be considered, and should be viewed from a standpoint of a reasonable officer and without the benefit of hindsight.
—
