U.S. Highway 71 reopens northbound lanes after police standoff ends
The northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 71 in Kansas City were closed for several hours Wednesday afternoon, causing rush hour headaches for commuters as a police standoff took place near the road.
The shutdown began around 1:50 p.m., when KCPD officers arrived to the 7000 block of Chestnut Avenue, between the Blenheim and Foxtown East neighborhoods of Kansas City.
Officers were attempting to serve a search warrant to a suspect inside a house, but surrounded the house after learning she might have been armed, said KCPD spokesperson Sgt. Phil DiMartino. Officers escalated the situation to an Operation 100, a standoff including a SWAT team.
Police in armed standoffs bring out ‘everything at our disposal’
The standoff brought traffic to a halt on U.S. Highway 71 for upward of three hours Wednesday. The Missouri Department of Transportation originally reported the shutdown was caused by a multi-car crash. The department later clarified that lanes were closed due to a “police emergency.”
Northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 71 reopened around 5:30 Wednesday. The standoff took a huge toll on rush hour commutes, DiMartino said.
“The shutdown of 71 highway was a significant impact on traffic,” DiMartino said. “I myself had difficulty getting here.”
Police operated from the parking lot of New Life Church of Christ Holiness during the standoff. KCPD shut down the highway because of how close it was to the church, DiMartino said, and because there were firearms involved.
During the operation, KCPD brought in negotiators along with additional forces. Several hours into the standoff, the suspect, an adult woman, fled out the back door and got in a light-colored Jeep.
Police had flattened the tires of the Jeep while surrounding the house, DiMartino said. The woman drove a few blocks east on E 70th Street on four flat tires until she crashed with a semitractor-trailer truck at Walrond Avenue.
The woman was taken to an area hospital with serious injuries, DiMartino said.
Police have not yet determined whether the house and car involved in the standoff belonged to the suspect. E 70th Street was quiet after the standoff, with large holes visible in the back window of the Jeep, along with dents in the truck.
