Third person shot by police in KC metro this year identified as Jason Burk
The man killed in a Kansas City, Kansas, car chase that ended in a police-involved shooting Monday has been identified by police as Jason A. Burk, 41.
Burk, who lived in Kansas City, had been driving a blue GMC Terrain that he allegedly stole at gunpoint near East 24th Street and Highland Avenue earlier that evening. A caller reported the carjacking to Kansas City, Missouri, police around 6:45 p.m., according to Melissa Underwood, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.
Kansas City police spotted the car in the 1500 block of The Paseo around 8 p.m. and gave chase. Burk led officers across state lines into Kansas, where the Kansas City, Kansas, police department, along with the Kansas Highway Patrol and Mission Police Department, joined in.
A 21-year-old passenger exited the car at 8:17 p.m. and was taken into custody, Underwood said. A highway patrol trooper brought the GMC to a stop a few minutes later by forcing it to spin and hit a guardrail around U.S. 69 Highway and the 18th Street Expressway.
Burk allegedly began shooting at officers from the stopped car, according to police. Officers from both Kansas City, Missouri, and Kansas City, Kansas, returned fire, fatally striking Burk multiple times.
Seven officers shot at Burk overall, including five from Missouri and two from Kansas, Underwood said. No one else was killed or injured.
Eight fatal officer-involved shootings have taken place statewide in Kansas so far this year. Monday’s shooting was the second in Kansas City, Kansas, both involving a stolen car.
Police fatally shot Jordan Cole, 18, on the night of May 10 after he fled a stolen Hyundai Sonata in the area of 7th Street Trafficway and Interstate 35. Cole ran into some bushes near the southbound on-ramp to Interstate 35, where he shot at police and was then shot by an officer.
A third officer-involved shooting took place in Kansas City, Missouri, on the night of March 30, when a Gladstone police officer and two Clay County sheriff’s deputies shot and killed a man during a traffic stop. The Kansas City Police Department said the officers fired after an altercation with the driver at North Garfield Avenue and Northeast Englewood Road.
Burk, who was pronounced dead in a KCK hospital Monday, was charged in 2017 with breaking into a car and tampering with it, according to court documents. Other previous charges include resisting arrest, breaking into two residential buildings and driving with a suspended license.
The 21-year-old passenger has not been publicly identified.
18th Street Expressway was closed overnight Monday as a result of the chase.
Armed events, including carjackings and shootings, accounted for 6.1% of calls to Kansas City, Missouri, police last month, according to KCPD data. In Kansas City, Kansas, 129 auto thefts have been reported this year, which is 43% less than this time last year, according to police data.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is looking into the officer-involved shooting and plans to present its findings to the Wyandotte County district attorney.
Burk’s death was the 12th homicide in Kansas City, Kansas, this year, according to data collected by the Star. The Star counts police-involved shootings as homicides when collecting data.
At this time last year, 10 homicides had been reported in KCK, including two police-involved shootings, according to Star data.
Previous reporting by Andrea Klick was used in this article.
