Kansas City, Kansas police fatally shoot man during traffic stop ‘confrontation’
Update: Family members on Thursday identified the man killed in the shooting as Amaree’ya Henderson of Kansas City and said they did not believe he was armed when he was killed. That story is here.
A man was fatally shot by a Kansas City, Kansas police officer on Wednesday night.
The shooting happened around 8:30 p.m. near the 12th Street bridge that crosses the Kansas River.
An officer pulled over a vehicle in the 1100 block of Metropolitan Avenue for a traffic violation, said Officer Donna Drake with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, which is handling the deadly use of force investigation.
During the traffic stop, Drake said a “confrontation ensued” that ended with the police officer fatally shooting the driver.
Drake said homicide detectives were in the beginning stages of their investigation. Among the witnesses to be interviewed was a passenger in the car at the time of the traffic stop, Drake said.
Standing behind the police tape Wednesday night was a group of people who said they were family members or knew the man who was killed.
Pauletta Johnson said she had just been notified by the police chaplain that her son had been killed. She said her son was doing a food delivery in the area that night with his girlfriend when they were pulled over.
As they were on the phone, she said, she heard gunshots. She said she rushed there by tracking their phones.
She acknowledged her son’s vehicle may have had expired tags, but said he had fallen on hard times financially after being laid off. She questioned why he was pulled over in the first place, and why the police officer shot him.
“They killed my baby. My only son,” she said, visibly distraught.
Drake said the Kansas City, Kansas officer had minor injuries and was also taken to the hospital for treatment. It was unclear how the officer was injured.
Since late 2022, Kansas City, Missouri police have led investigations of shootings involving Kansas City, Kansas police officers as part of an agreement between the two agencies.
Once the investigation is complete, Drake said findings would be forwarded to the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office.
The district attorney will decide whether the use of force was justified under Kansas law.
The shooting Wednesday marks the third involving Kansas City, Kansas police so far in 2023. One other was fatal.
On Feb. 4, Kansas City, Kansas police shot and killed a man in the 5400 block of Haskell Avenue after he allegedly fled on a bicycle from a house where two people had recently overdosed on fentanyl. Police said a gun was found at that scene.
On April 5, Kansas City, Kansas police were involved in a daytime shootout after an undercover drug bust went awry. Three tactical officers and three suspects were wounded by gunfire, and all suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
