KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, police officer shot and killed two people Friday after a confrontation near East 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard.
Police issued an assist-the-officer alert shortly before 9 p.m., according to Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Andy Bell.
Additional officers arrived in the area just after gunshots had been fired and located one officer and five people near a white van., Bell said.
One man died at the scene and a woman died from her gunshot wounds at a Kansas City-area hospital, Bell said.
A third person also was injured, but Bell said that person's injuries were not as serious.
The KCPD officer was not injured in the encounter.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is handling the investigation, per KCPD policy on shootings involving its officers.
Bell said officers were notifying the shooting victims' families late Friday.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the people shot to death Saturday as Marcell T. Nelson, 42, of KCMO, and Kristen Fairchild, 42, of Gardner.
Investigators will look at surveillance video from a nearby McDonald's and any other businesses in the area.
Bell said he assumed the officer who killed the man and woman wore a body camera and that its video also would be reviewed by investigators.
The area near the intersection of East 31st Street and Van Brunt Avenue has seen similar violence in the past.
One man was killed and a KCPD officer nearly died after being shot in the head during a disturbance there on July 2, 2020.
KCPD Officer Tyler Moss, who was injured in the incident three years ago, has made a remarkably recovery from his injuries and continues to serve in law enforcement.
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