Police: Kansas City police officers fatally shoot man carrying a rifle
Kansas City police shot and killed a man carrying a rifle early Friday morning after he pointed the rifle at officers.
Police first responded to a call of an armed person with a rifle in the 3200 block of Independence Avenue shortly after 1 a.m.
One block south on Gladstone Avenue, officers found the armed man.
Police say they told him to drop his weapon but the man refused.
An officer fired bean bag rounds at the man in an attempt to use less lethal force, but that didn’t work, police said.
Officers followed him on foot to East Eighth Street and Gladstone, continuing to tell him to drop the gun. Police said an “independent witness” saw the man turn and point his rifle at police.
At that point, several officers fired their weapons.
Police said the man was given emergency medical care at the scene before he was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
This was the second officer-involved shooting of this year. Police previously shot and killed a man allegedly high on illegal drugs who pointed a gun at officers on Jan. 30.
The man’s death is Kansas City’s 20th homicide of the year, according to data kept by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. This compares to 14 homicides by this time in 2019. Last year’s homicide total total neared an all-time record for Kansas City.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 7:35 AM.
