‘That good guy’: Community mourns fallen sheriff’s deputy Elijah Ming in KCK
Hundreds of people flooded the steps of the Wyandotte County Courthouse Wednesday evening, each somber person clutching a white candle in their hands.
Each there for one purpose — to honor fallen Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Deputy Elijah Ming.
The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office hosted a candlelight vigil for Ming Wednesday outside the courthouse. The community arrived in droves.
“I’m so glad they come out here to show the family support,” Kansas City, Kansas Police Department Officer Carlos Ulloa said. “We feel supported, but I want to make sure that the family knows that we are here for them. And we’re never going to leave them — ever.”
Ming, a nearly nine-year veteran of the sheriff’s department, was shot and killed Saturday afternoon while responding to a service call in Kansas City, Kansas’ Argentine neighborhood.
‘That guy who could light up your darkest day with just a smile’
Speakers remembered Ming as a “good guy” who loved his family and community.
“See, long before the badge, he was already protecting people… Elijah was that guy. That good guy” Rev. Everett Fletcher said. “That guy who had your back. That guy who could light up your darkest day with just a smile. That guy who showed up when others walked away.”
The reverend, teary-eyed, told the crowd the nation needed a “cultural shift.”
“We cannot let Elijah’s death go in vain,” Fletcher said. “We cannot keep burying our brothers and sons and sisters. We cannot keep covering up cycles of domestic abuse, and excusing gun violence as normal.”
Monica Randle, principal of West Park Elementary School, recounted her days teaching Ming while he was in school.
“He had manners,” Randle said. “And I can remember many, many, many ‘yes ma’ams, no ma’ams.’ If there’s nothing else, he had manners.”
As the crowd lit their candles, Kansas City, Kansas Police Department Chaplain Sister Therese Bangert said Ming was an “uplifter.”
“Deputy Ming was a man who seemed to live in a stance of lifting people up,” Bangert said. “He was an uplifter.”
Candles flickered in the wind as the vigil came to a close with a rendition of ‘Amazing Grace,’ sung by Lee’s Summit Police Department Officer Nathan Cantrell.
Ulloa, the KCK police officer, said the event was a “beautiful service” to honor Ming.
“I couldn’t have said it any better, (Ming was) a bright light to everyone that I could work with,” Ulloa said, teary-eyed. “He would always smile. He brought happiness to everyone on his shift.”
Other officers who died in shootings
Ming’s death was not the first Ulloa had seen in his time at the department.
The man also worked with Deputy Sheriff’s Patrick Thomas Rohrer and Theresa Sue King, who were fatally shot while transporting an inmate in 2018; Capt. Robert Melton, who was fatally shot while attempting to apprehend a suspect in a drive-by shooting in 2016; and Det. Brad Lancaster, who was fatally shot near the Kansas Speedway in 2016.
“It hurts. It’s like a new scab being ripped off every single time,” Ulloa said. “It feels like you just cannot get a break and have time to heal.”
Of the six police shootings that have occurred during Ulloa’s tenure, five resulted in death.
“It happens way too much here in our community, and the violence needs to stop,” Ulloa said.
Ming was responding to a call when he was shot
Ming was responding to a call for service around 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the 2600 block of South 30th Street with other law enforcement officials to help an individual move items out of a residence.
A man later identified as Shawn Harris, 38, confronted Ming from inside the house and opened fire, striking Ming, according to a press release from Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Department Media Relations Specialist Grace Jacobs.
Officers from the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department and the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office exchanged gunfire with Harris before the man barricaded himself inside the home, police chief Karl Oakman previously told The Star.
Harris exited the home around 5 p.m. Saturday after a negotiation, Oakman said. He was injured by gunfire, but remained in stable condition.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will investigate all aspects of the shooting, sheriff Daniel Soptic told reporters at a press conference Saturday evening.
Suspect has lengthy criminal history in Kansas, Missouri
Harris was charged in Wyandotte County Monday with capital murder and criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He is being held in the Johnson County Detention Center on a $2 million bond.
The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office has not decided if Harris will face the death penalty in the capital murder charge. For the criminal possession of a weapon charge, Harris faces 7 to 23 months in prison.
Harris has a robust criminal past in both Kansas and Missouri. He was released from custody last year, and completed post-release supervision requirements in December.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 6:38 AM.
