Raytown police officer shoots and kills man while working off-duty at Walmart
A Raytown police officer shot and killed a man Saturday night at a Walmart off Missouri 350 highway, according to the police department.
The shooting occurred about 8:10 p.m. at the Walmart store at 10300 E. 350 Highway, according to the Raytown Police Department.
The officer was in uniform and was working at the store in an off-duty capacity, said Capt. Dyon Harper, a Raytown police spokesman.
Police said a man who was armed with a gun entered the Walmart. The police officer “encountered the man and shots were fired,” Harper said.
The man was shot just inside one of the store entrances, said Randy Hargrove, a spokesman for Walmart. It was unclear late Saturday night what led up to the shooting.
The man died at the scene. Police did not immediately release his name.
The officer was not injured, and has been placed on administrative leave, Harper said. No other injuries were reported.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol was asked to respond to the scene and conduct an investigation.
Hargrove didn’t have details on the number of customers or employees in the store during the shooting, which happened about 20 minutes before closing time. Counseling resources are available to any employees seeking it, he said.
The shooting Saturday night was not the first time an off-duty law enforcement officer killed a person at the Raytown store.
Previous Walmart shooting
On May 28, 2017, a Jackson County sheriff’s deputy was working off-duty security at the Raytown Walmart when a man named Donald Sneed III was suspected of shoplifting.
Sneed allegedly became violent when employees tried to stop him.
The deputy, Lauren Michael, shot and killed Sneed during an altercation captured on surveillance video. At the time, she said Sneed took her stun gun away from her and shocked her with it, and that was why she shot him.
The sheriff’s office also gave that version of events. Then-sheriff Mike Sharp awarded Michael a medal of valor for her actions.
Jackson County sheriff’s deputies were not equipped with body cameras. The video showing the shooting did not become public until years later.
About two years after the Sneed shooting, Deputy Michael, then 29, shot another person and told a similar story.
About 11:15 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2019, Michael was one of several deputies conducting traffic enforcement patrols at 40th and Oak streets in the Westport area when the deputies noticed two people allegedly riding a scooter on the wrong side of the street.
Michael caught up with one of the scooter riders, Brittany Simeck, and a struggle ensued.
Michael pulled out her service handgun and shot Simeck in the back and buttocks.
Michael said, as she had after the Raytown Walmart shooting, that the suspect had managed to grab the deputy’s stun gun and use it on her.
Simeck survived, and investigators found problems with Michael’s story. Jackson County prosecutors said in charging documents that Michael was not telling the truth.
Michael was charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
Soon after, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced her office would look again at the 2017 Donald Sneed killing.
An attorney for the Sneed family provided The Star with the surveillance video showing the shooting.
This story was originally published April 18, 2020 at 9:58 PM.
