KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Witnesses describe the man who shot a Kansas City, Missouri, police officer on Thursday afternoon as erratic, waving his weapon and yelling at people in a McDonald's parking lot before police arrived.
It's a sight James Boyd won't forget.
"I looked across the street and I seen this guy coming out of the McDonald’s," Boyd said. "I looked in his hand and I couldn’t quite figure out and realized it was a pistol coming out of the McDonald’s."
By then, two KCPD officers were rushing to the fast food restaurant at East 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard.
"He was acting like he was out of his mind, no shirt, his pants were halfway down to his knees, angry, yelling," said James Boyd, who told 41 Action News he witnessed the shooting.
When officers pulled up, the man ran off down Stadium Drive. Investigators say the man turned around and shot at officers, striking one of them.
The injured officer's partner returned fire, killing the suspect.
"These officers responded with courage and valor," said Sgt. Bill Lowe with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Law enforcement from across the area flooded the crime scene to make sure there wasn't another shooter.
"During something like this, you’re under a lot of pressure and a lot of stress, and we want to make sure the community knows that we’re doing this for them. This is why we do this to keep our community safe," Lowe said. "We put ourselves at risk every day with the possibility of something like this happening, and when it does it really hits home."
After an extensive search, police said they were confident there wasn't another shooter.
Late Thursday, KCPD said the officer who was injured remained in critical but stable condition after surgery.
The evidence crime scene technicians gathered at the scene will go the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is leading the investigation.
