NORTH KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Officer Daniel Vasquez was near Clay Street and east 21st Avenue in North Kansas City when he was brutally murdered.
He was the first North Kansas City officer to be killed while in the line of duty.
Now, his badge number is posted on a pole that sits over the small town — a daily reminder of what happened.
“It was hectic on the block,” Larry Moss said. “A sad day.”
Moss lives just down the street from where Vasquez was killed.
Dozens of different agencies rushed to the block to help.
KSHB 41 talked with Moss last July when he did anything he could to support NKCPD.
“They protect where you live,” Moss said.
Now, nine months later, it’s a loss still felt deeply by the community.
“We waved at the guy and stuff like that, it’s emotional, you just don’t forget that,” Moss said.
Moss says he sees officers drive by every day.
“It just seems like it’s been a long time, it hasn’t been that long but it’s been a long time that his family still goes through this,” he said.
Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson said together with Vasquez’s family and NKCPD, they made a decision that Clay County hasn’t done in years.
“The state of Missouri will be seeking the death penalty,” Thompson said.
They say there were three reasons behind the death penalty filing against Joshua Rocha.
They believe the offense was outrageously vile, it was against a police officer and Rocha did it to avoid arrest.
Thompson acknowledged this could be a decades-long process.
“I don’t put a dollar amount on justice, and I don’t think the citizens of Clay County do either,” Thompson said.
The prosecutor says he’s confident in the process and has all the information he needs.
Rocha is due back in court on May 2; because this is now a capital punishment case, Rocha will receive a new attorney.
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