Evidence, witnesses detail graphic scene in trial for slain North KC officer
In a Clay County courtroom Monday, a dozen witnesses and multiple videos laid out the graphic details of the killing of North Kansas City police officer Daniel Vasquez in July 2022, as prosecutors started to make their case on the first day of the capital murder trial of Joshua Rocha, the man alleged to have killed the officer.
Dash cam footage and Rocha’s interview with investigators were played for the jury — brought in from St. Charles County, Missouri — as part of evidence by the four-person team representing the state led by Clay County prosecuting attorney Zachary Thompson.
Prosecutors initially charged Rocha, 28, with first-degree murder and armed criminal action following Vasquez’s death, and later filed notice they would seek the death penalty.
Dash cam footage from Vasquez’s service vehicle, played for the jury, showed Vasquez touching the left taillight of Rocha’s grey Ford Taurus during a traffic stop. As Vasquez approached the driver's side door, the video showed Rocha opening the door, allegedly shooting Vasquez once in the head with what police analysis determined to be an AR-15 rifle.
Rocha is then seen shooting Vasquez two more times as he lay in the street, misfiring his weapon once between the last two shots before darting off. A witness’s doorbell camera that played in court didn’t show the shooting, but did record the sound of gunfire, and the sound of a car driving away quickly.
Bystanders were almost immediately on the scene after the shots rang out across the city.
North Kansas City police officer Brandon Keeton was the first law enforcement personnel on the scene, and rendered aid to Vasquez as law enforcement quickly flooded the scene at Clay Street and East 21st Avenue. In his testimony, Keeton said he was patrolling when he heard Vasquez make his radio call before pulling Rocha over.
Vasquez called in Rocha’s light green 2006 Ford Taurus for three-year expired tags that didn’t match the vehicle. Keeton was heading toward Vasquez as backup when he got waved down by bystanders.
First responders and a bystander performed chest compressions on Vasquez for more than five minutes before emergency medical personnel took over, according to the video of the scene.
Neighborhood bystanders watched as law enforcement worked to try to keep Vasquez alive. In the video, Keeton threw his equipment on the ground in frustration after giving chest compressions.
Other NKC officers walked away with their hands on their faces, distraught from seeing their fellow officer bleeding in the middle of the street. One of the first officers on the scene was Vasquez’s girlfriend, North Kansas City police Maj. Justin Holm said during his testimony.
“We were pretty much in shock,” Keeton said on the witness stand.
Rocha wiped tears from his eyes as the footage played.
In his more than hour-long interview with detectives that was played in court, Rocha said he was living in his car and was concerned it would be taken away during the traffic stop. After the shooting, he said he shaved his face, changed his clothes, and spray-painted the trunk of his vehicle white to attempt to conceal himself.
Once a statewide search for the shooter began and Rocha started seeing updates on Vasquez’s condition, he went to the Clay County Annex to turn himself in.
Kansas City police SWAT and assisting agencies apprehended Rocha at the annex, with witnesses noting Rocha was “emotionless” and “sullen” while he was turning himself in to authorities.
When asked why he did it with no criminal history, Rocha repeatedly said he didn’t know, according to the video.
“I’d say I really f----d up,” Rocha said in the three-year-old police interviewplayed for jurors. “I’d say I’m sorry, you can’t turn back time... wasn’t thinking about my future, his future or anything else.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 8:13 PM.
