Watch: Fellow cop speaks at funeral for Fairway police officer killed in shooting
A funeral was held Monday in Lenexa for Jonah Oswald, the Fairway police officer killed in a shootout at a Johnson County gas station last Sunday.
The service was scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Westside Family Church, 8500 Woodsonia Dr. in Lenexa. The public portion of the funeral was broadcast on video.
Oswald, 29, was killed in a shooting Aug. 6 at a Mission QuikTrip while officers responded to an auto theft.
He died from his injuries last Monday in a hospital. He had been with the Fairway Police Department for four years and was a husband and father to two young children.
No graveside service was held following the funeral, but there was a short ceremony scheduled outside the church once the service concluded.
Over the weekend, community members and law enforcement officials have honored Oswald and his family.
Hundreds from Fairway and surrounding cities attended a parade of patrol vehicles and a candlelight vigil to pay their respects to the first officer to be killed on duty in the department’s history. A visitation was also held Sunday.
“Jonah’s heart radiated,” said Fairway Police Chief J.P. Thurlo at the vigil. “And it radiated through his badge.”
Shooting at Mission gas station
Last Sunday, Oswald and officers from several police departments responded to reports of a stolen vehicle with two suspects.
Lenexa police pursued the vehicle, which allegedly struck a patrol car, until the suspects fled on foot into a Mission QuikTrip at 4700 Lamar Ave.
Oswald was critically wounded in a shootout that ensued and later died from his injuries.
One of the suspects, Shannon Wayne Marshall, 40, of Ashland City, Tennessee was killed at the scene.
The other suspect, Andrea Rene Cothran, 32, of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, was charged with four felonies, including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, and is being held on $1 million bail.
The Star’s Matti Gellman and Bill Lukitsch contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 14, 2023 at 8:29 AM.
