Kansas City woman says feds pointed guns at her family during Operation LeGend arrest
A Kansas City woman said she and her family were traumatized Wednesday after federal officers in unmarked vehicles arrived at her home, pointed their guns and apprehended the father of her child.
His arrest was part of Operation LeGend.
Cassidy Jordan, 27, said she had taken two of her kids to the car around 9 a.m. As Jonta Johnson, 35, was putting their three-month-old son in a car, unmarked vehicles surrounded Jordan’s house, with at least three of them driving up onto her lawn.
“They never said their name, said who they was,” she said. “They hopped out of the cars like they were doing an ambush.
“We were so scared. We were like what’s going on? They hopped out in these camouflage army U.S. marshals vests with these army camouflage rifle type guns. They just started pointing at us.”
Her seven-year-old daughter began crying.
“The first thing I think about is, please don’t shoot him (Johnson),” she said.
He was swiftly handcuffed.
According to an indictment, Johnson was charged with six crimes including felon in possession of ammunition, felon in possession of a firearm and drug offenses. The allegations date from October 2017 to as recently as March.
Johnson’s arrest was part of Operation LeGend, said Don Ledford, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Missouri. The operation brought more than 200 agents to Kansas City this month with the goal of reducing violent crime.
But Jordan questioned the way the operation was conducted.
“You all was causing more problems than anything,” she said. “That wasn’t solving nothing.”
The federal operation was named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed while sleeping in his bedroom last month.
Jordan said she supports efforts to arrest people who are out killing, but didn’t see the connection between Johnson’s case and LeGend’s death or any other violent crime.
Kansas City has had 112 homicides through Friday afternoon, putting it on pace to become the deadliest year on record.
But the operation has been widely criticized.
Protesters took to the streets over the weekend, saying a larger law enforcement presence will endanger Black people. They called for cuts to the Kansas City Police Department’s budget with funds redirected to education, health care and other community services.
There were also worries that federal agents would engage activity similar to that in Portland, where protesters were allegedly detained and put into unmarked vans by agents who did not identify themselves The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Operation LeGend would not bear any resemblance to Portland.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the operation’s first arrest, a man charged with being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms, which prompted some community leaders to question its efficacy. On Friday, a third known arrest was announced when a man who allegedly shot three people Wednesday was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. A fourth arrest, conducted on Thursday, was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on late Friday afternoon.
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said 200 arrests had resulted from Operation LeGend, but the Department of Justice backtracked on the number, saying it dated back to December 2019.
President Donald Trump is expanding Operation LeGend to Chicago and Albuquerque, which are both led by Democratic mayors, as is Kansas City.
“Operation LeGend is not real crime fighting; it’s politics standing in the way of police work and makes us less safe,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said in a statement.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he welcomes federal help in solving homicides, but was worried that the operation will expand beyond its original scope.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Kansas City woman says feds pointed guns at her family during Operation LeGend arrest."
