Man charged for role in wild gun battle that wounded 4-year-old in nearby house

A Kansas City man was charged with several felonies Sunday after a terrifying south Kansas City gun battle Saturday that sprayed nearby houses with bullets and wounded a 4-year-old child.

Ellery H. Beals, 35, was captured near the violent scene outside a gas station at 3401 Red Bridge Road by an off-duty police officer who had heard the gunfire around 6 p.m. and held Beals at gunpoint until police arrived.

Another man who police say exchanged gunfire with Beals remains at large.

Beals denied that he fired any shots. He told investigators he was only fleeing from the other man, who Beals said had shot him May 19. But detectives said surveillance footage from the gas station showed both men firing their weapons.

Beals is charged with second-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon resulting in injury or death — in this case the wounding of the 4-year-old boy who was hit in the arm in a house several hundred yards to the northeast of the gas station.

The bullet that hit the child reached him after flying through the dining room window of the house and into the living room where he was standing, according to a relative. The Star is not naming the child or the relative for safety reasons, as the shooting remains under police investigation.

The bullet struck the boy in the arm, nicking the bone before passing through, his relative said. On Sunday, the boy seemed to be recovering well physically, playing alongside other children in the house with his arm in a sling. But he likely has emotional wounds as well.

"He has some trauma," the relative said. After coming home from the hospital, the boy sat down to play with a coloring book but became afraid of being near a window.

"He said, 'I can't sit here, I'm going to get shot,'" the relative said.

A bullet hole remained in the window on Sunday. Looking out through it, the scene of the shooting is barely visible through the trees.

At least one other house to the northeast was hit with bullets, though two people inside the house were not injured.

Several witnesses were at the gas station, and court documents show that they saw Beals arrive at the gas station in a maroon Chevrolet Impala, parking it facing east, and then enter the store.

The other suspect, driving a black van, pulled into the parking lot and stopped alongside the driver's side of Beal's car, facing west. Witness statements and surveillance footage showed that Beals came out of the store and saw the van.

Beals walked toward the back of the van and the driver of the van got out and they exchanged gunfire, the footage showed.

A woman passenger in the van got out and fled. And Beals fled north across Red Bridge Road.

The off-duty officer, who lived nearby, came running to the scene and witnesses said that one of the suspects — Beals — had run behind the bank building north of the gas station. The officer said he found Beals behind the bank and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.

A car of a customer at the gas station was hit with bullets.

Police are continuing to investigate the case, and are still searching for the other person in the gun battle. Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

This story was originally published June 10, 2018 at 6:22 PM with the headline "Man charged for role in wild gun battle that wounded 4-year-old in nearby house."