KCPD officer hospitalized after shooting is ‘on the right path,’ chief says
Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith on Friday offered an upbeat assessment of the progress of one of his officers who was shot in the head the day before, telling reporters “I think we’re heading down the right path.”
The officer, who hasn’t been publicly identified, remained in critical condition at Truman Medical Center following an emergency surgery Thursday evening.
“The neurosurgeon seems to be very optimistic that with the wound it was that he could do some help with his surgery yesterday,” Smith said at a Friday media briefing at the Kansas City Police East Patrol station.
Smith noted that the officer was able to move limbs, which he called a “very promising sign.”
The officer was shot at 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard on Thursday afternoon as he responded to a call about a man waving a gun at a McDonald’s location. The suspect ran away before turning and shooting at pursuing officers, police said. A second officer fired back and killed the suspect, who the Missouri Highway Patrol identified on Friday as 31-year-old Grandview man Ky Johnson.
The shooting was a culmination of a violent week in Kansas City that started with the shooting death Monday of a 4-year-old boy as he slept. By Wednesday, the city eclipsed the 100-homicide mark earlier in the year than it ever has before.
Then on Thursday came the shooting of not one but two Kansas City police officers in separate incidents.
The other officer, who also hasn’t been identified, was shot while responding to a robbery suspect who boarded a Kansas City Area Transportation Authority bus on Independence Avenue.
According to charging documents, Justin A. Rogers, 25, took a man’s wallet at a bus stop in view of a KCATA bus driver and then got onto the bus. The driver called a supervisor and shortly after police arrived near Independence and Hardesty avenues. Rogers is accused of shooting at the officer and the bus driver, both of whom were taken to the hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.
“He’s home, he’s healing, he’s doing well,” Smith said of the officer.
The Missouri Highway Patrol is investigating both shootings.
In other comments Friday, a visibly frustrated and drained Smith criticized what he called negativity directed at police officers as well as the continuing plague of violent crime in Kansas City.
“Some of this is the negative narrative on law enforcement and I’m trying to bite my tongue here, but it’s frustrating,” Smith said. “That’s not what’s happening. These men and women come out here every day to help people in this city.”
Smith also said the police department needs more resources and community assistance in violent crime.
“Whatever we can do to solve and prevent the continued frustration that seems to plague our streets and that frustration answered with illegal gunfire, we need something that will turn that tide,” Smith said.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who on Thursday condemned the violence directed at police, called on Gov. Mike Parson to convene a special session of the Missouri General Assembly to pass legislation that would offer more assistance to victims and witnesses and to give police and prosecutors more tools to go after conspirators of violent crime.
Smith said he feels supported by city leadership.
“Most people understand that what the people behind me,” Smith said, referring to officers at the briefing, “are doing every day needs to be supported.”
He also issued a warning to violent offenders: “If you want to be involved in violence, we’re going to come after you as hard as we can.”
This story was originally published July 3, 2020 at 4:36 PM.
