Police shoot, seriously wound carjacking suspect after pursuit in Kansas City, Kansas

Police on Sunday shot and critically wounded a suspect involved in a carjacking earlier in the week in Kansas City, Kansas.

The shooting occurred about 11:47 a.m. Sunday, and other officers responded near the Quick Snack at the corner of 18th Street and Parallel Parkway in Kansas City, Kansas.

Minutes earlier, Kansas City, Missouri, police officers identified a vehicle and suspect in an armed carjacking that occurred Thursday in Kansas City, Kansas, and began to chase it. The pursuit went into Kansas and ended when the suspect fled the scene on foot, said Nancy Chartrand, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.

The shooting left the suspect with “serious, critical” injuries, Chartrand said. He was taken to a hospital.

It was not immediately clear which agency fired at the suspect, Chartrand said. She said one officer from each department was involved in the chase. Detectives continued to investigate the circumstances around the shooting.

Asked if the suspect was armed when he was shot Sunday, Chartrand said she did not know. That will be answered as part of the investigation, which is still in its early stages, she said.

Kansas City, Kansas, police are trained in de-escalation, Chartrand added. The last thing officers want to do is shoot someone, she said, noting that the department’s last officer shooting was in December.

“Do we just shoot to shoot? Of course not,” she told reporters.

The suspect was believed to be a man in his 20s. He had not been publicly identified as of Sunday afternoon.

The involved officers, who have also not been publicly identified, were placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Both officers were wearing body cameras at the time, police said.

No officers were injured.

Lisa Walker-Yeager, a candidate for 1st district commissioner in Wyandotte County, was among those at the scene Sunday.

“I just want to make sure that this investigation is a good investigation,” she told The Star following the news conference.

Walker-Yeager mentioned the recent swearing in of Karl Oakman as the new police chief of Kansas City, Kansas, adding that she’s eager to see how he handles the investigation.

She also said she hopes that any body camera footage will be released to the public.

“We need to have transparency,” she said.

Tarence Maddox, 38, was just arriving at PeachTree Cafe’Teria with his four children for a Father’s Day meal when calls started coming in from concerned community members who said a man had been shot by police on the other side of the Kansas River. (Last summer, Maddox and his daughter, 15 at the time, sued Kansas City police officers who pepper sprayed them May 30 at the Country Club Plaza while they protested police brutality.)

Maddox, a local activist, turned around and brought his kids, ages 8 through 17, with him to the scene where a few dozen people gathered.

Once there, Maddox said he spoke to a woman who witnessed the shooting; she said the man got out of a vehicle and tried getting into a nearby church. When he couldn’t open the door, she told him, he went back toward the street.

Maddox told The Star that the woman said the man at one point had his hands in the air. Police said they had no indication “that was the case,” but noted it was still “very early” in the investigation.

“The family’s not here,” Maddox said, “but the community is standing right here and we’re still saying that we want answers for what happened.”

Maddox also criticized police chases, adding that the chase Sunday was in a busy area, in broad daylight.

“We don’t want criminals just being able to do anything and run free, but a carjacking ... shouldn’t lead to high-speed pursuits in broad daylight on a holiday,” he said.

Chartrand said she didn’t immediately know what speeds were reached during the chase.

She added that the department is encouraging anyone who witnessed the incident or who has footage of the shooting to call Kansas City, Kansas police at 913-596-3000 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.

KCKPD is on the scene of a shooting at 18th and State. Public is asked to please avoid area. PIO will meet media at 2100 N. 18th for briefing.

— Kansas City, Kansas Police Department (@KCKPDChief) June 20, 2021