KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, police officer who shot and killed a man inside a vehicle last week saw the man point a gun at another officer, police said.
On Monday, Kansas City police released new details in the Dec. 3 officer-involved shooting that left Cameron Lamb dead, including a transcript of police radio traffic detailing a chase that preceded the shooting.
The new details come as a civil rights attorney, S. Lee Merritt, was hired to represent Lamb's family. Merritt has represented other families after officer-involved shootings, including relatives of Atatiana Jefferson and Botham Jean.
The family's attorneys met with the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office on Tuesday. The office said it is following protocol for an officer-involved shooting.
According to police, KCPD officers were at an unrelated crash near East 35th Street and College Avenue around 12:20 p.m. when an officer saw a red pickup truck chasing a purple Mustang.
Officers in a police helicopter followed the red truck and alerted officers on the ground when the vehicle backed into a residential lot behind a house in the 4100 block of College Avenue.
One officer went to the south side of the house, and another officer went to the north side. The officer on the south side found one person in the backyard of the house who was working on vehicles.
The other officer saw Lamb, 26, back the truck down the driveway. According to police, the officer “saw Lamb pull a gun and point it in the direction of the other officer.”
The officer on the north side then fired at Lamb, who died inside the vehicle. He was found with his left hand hanging out of the truck’s window, and a gun was on the ground underneath his hand, police said.
No one else was injured. Police said the person working on cars in the backyard was not involved in the incident.
Before the truck backed into the residence on College Avenue, police said over radio traffic that they saw the two vehicles “going so fast,” and it appeared the truck was going to run a red light. Police estimated the truck was going around 60 mph on 45th Street, according to the radio traffic transcript provided by police.
Police said the driver of the truck “presented a clear danger to other drivers,” including the Mustang, and that officers followed the truck to learn why the driver was chasing the other vehicle.
Police said last week the initial call involved a "disturbance" between two vehicles.
