KCK officer who fatally shot former detective will not face charges: prosecutor’s office
A Kansas City, Kansas, police officer will not face charges for a November 2021 shooting that killed a man who video shows wrestled a gun away from another officer and pointed it.
The man was identified as Lionel A. Womack, a former police detective who worked for the department from July 2007 to August 2020. He was terminated due to numerous policy violations.
Body and dash camera footage from the Nov. 22, 2021, incident was viewed Tuesday at the police department.
The video shows the confrontation lasted 26 seconds.
The two officers, who knew Womack, attempted to calm him down, Police Chief Karl Oakman said. One officer yelled “Relax,” three times. The officers have not been publicly identified.
In the video, Womack, 36, is seen wrestling a gun away from an officer and pointing it at him. A second officer fires multiple times.
Womack was taken by ambulance to a hospital and pronounced dead two hours later. The two officers were also taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries.
“You have to meet force with force as (both police officers) would have been dead,” Oakman said Tuesday.
“It’s obvious they did not want to shoot him,” Oakman said. “They tried everything they could.”
The police shooting
Police responded to the area of North 57th Street and Tauromee Avenue after receiving a call about a suspicious person standing in the middle of the road and pointing towards the sky.
Womack puts his hands up when two patrol vehicles arrived, the footage shows. But seconds later, Womack rushes toward the first patrol vehicle.
An officer says his name several times and tells him to calm down. Womack then charges toward the first officer and gets in the police cruiser through the driver’s side door.
Seconds later, Womack emerges from the vehicle and puts his right hand behind his back.
The first officer pulls out his weapon, believing Womack could be armed, Oakman said. Womack did not have a weapon.
He then charges at the officer, grabbing his wrist and handgun. A second officer attempts to pull Womack off, grabbing his arms with both hands.
During the struggle with the first officer, two shots were fired as they struggled for possession of the gun. One of those shots ricocheted and hit the second officer in the toe.
Womack then falls to the ground, having disarmed the first officer. Video shows Womack try to unjam the gun and point it at the first officer. The officer puts his hands up.
The officer then dives to the ground as Womack is getting up. Womack points the weapon at the officer. The second officer fires three shots toward Womack, hitting him twice. He falls to the ground.
“You saved my life,” the first officer tells the second officer.
No charges filed
The shooting was investigated by the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office and the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office. No charges were filed, Jonathan Carter, a spokesman for the district attorney office, said Tuesday.
Oakman said it was the right decision.
“We could have had three people laying on the street dead,” he said. “Unfortunately it was just Mr. Womack.”
“There was several people on this police department that was hurt by this — not by the officer’s actions — but just the fact (it was) someone they knew,” Oakman said.
The first officer has not returned to work since the shooting because of the psychological toll it took, Oakman said.
He said officers have yearly handgun training where they are taught how to prevent having their weapons taken and that Womack knew how to disarm an officer due to his prior training as a police officer. Oakman also said the officer was likely surprised that Womack charged at him once he drew his weapon.
“Usually when you draw that usually stops them,” he said.
Womack has family members in the police department. His wife, Z’Iontae Womack, is a detective. She declined to comment and was unaware charges were not filed in Womack’s death until Wednesday.
Womack was one 1,054 people fatally shot by police in 2021, according to The Washington Post’s Fatal Force database, which has documented fatal shooting by police across the country since 2015. Black people are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by police, according to The Post.
