KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Olathe police shot a man inside a car after he pointed a gun at them Wednesday night outside a restaurant.
The incident happened at about 5 p.m. in the parking lot of Strip's Chicken Restaurant located at 1110 East Santa Fe Street in Olathe.
Police said they were sent to the restaurant to check on a man in the car.
Just before dinnertime, someone was worried about the man parked outside this fast-food joint.
The witness reported he seemed out of it and called Olathe police.
When officers walked up to the car, they saw a weapon inside.
The man disregarded Olathe officers' orders to put down the gun, and at least one officer shot the man in his lower abdomen.
"This did escalate to a deadly force situation rather quickly," Sgt. Joel Yeldell with the Olathe Police Department
One person who saw the shooting unfold praised Olathe police on how they handled this situation.
Chaz Armstrong was in the drive-thru picking up dinner as the situation developed.
"She said that I see something right at his waist-belt, and then all of sudden it was a 'pop' — one shot," Armstrong said. "The great thing about it was just one shot. They didn't unload on him."
The man got out of the car and fled the scene and he was later captured after a short foot chase.
"There were two other officers behind, and they decide to follow him and see what he does. He got out of the car after being shot in his abdomen on his right side," Armstrong recounted. "He got his hands up and he was just delirious. He said, 'Man, don't shoot, don't shoot, don't shoot' ... But he would not go down."
The man managed to get across this parking lot before officers cuffed him
The man is expected to recover and no officers were injured in the incident.
"It's a very stressful situation," Yeldell said. "We're just happy that one: the suspect is expected to make a full recovery. And two: that our officers are OK."
A special team that's been around since 2004 will gather evidence to help the district attorney determine whether the shooting was justified.
"There's area investigators who were the best of the best as far as detectives in the area. There's other agencies that are involved in that team, everyone except the agency that's involved in that shooting situation — so Olathe will not have a part in the investigation itself," Yedell said.
Armstrong commended the officers' training.
"Thank God it was just one shot. I've seen so many situations where they are, 'boom boom boom boom.' I see a gun, 'boom boom boom boom.' Not Olathe police — they're trained much better," Armstrong said.
Because the man pointed a gun at police, he could face a number of charges, including aggravated assault or even attempted homicide following this incident.
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