‘Nothing to do with a shooting?’: First KC arrest in federal operation fuels debate
When the Department of Justice announced the creation of a federal operation that would bring more than 200 agents to the Kansas City area, officials emphasized the focus would be on solving more shootings.
But the first arrest to come from Operation LeGend was a man found in a stolen car with firearms who ran over an officer’s foot weeks earlier, the U.S. District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
Since its announcement, Operation LeGend has been met with some backlash and protests decrying the presence of federal law enforcement in Kansas City. On Thursday, the White House touted the operation as a successful federal response to violent crime.
Monty W. Ray, 20, of Kansas City, was arrested Friday by an Independence officer and an agent with the U.S. Marshals Service. He was charged Monday in federal court with being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms, according to a criminal complaint. A federal trial jury will later determine his guilt or innocence.
“We should save our applause and delay conclusions of success,” said the Rev. Vernon Howard, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City.
He said he believes the operation is an example of sending federal agents in to incarcerate young men who are out of choices. He said leadership needs to think more deeply about solutions.
“We appreciate and respect the risk law enforcement take and support the removal of illegal weapons from the streets and citizens of our community, but we will applaud and we will deem successful 200 beds for mental health treatment, 200 beds for those who suffer from addictions, 200 counselors for young people of color who are struggling with choices in life,” said Howard, who has previously denounced the operation.
The operation, named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro who was fatally shot while sleeping in a Kansas City apartment late last month, is sending national law enforcement officers from the FBI, the United States Marshals Service, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into the city to quell a “surge of violent crime,” Attorney General William Barr said earlier this month.
In total, 225 federal agents from the FBI, DEA, Marshals Service and ATF are expected to join 400 agents already working and living in the metro area, Garrison said at a press conference on Wednesday, July 15.
Ray, who was wanted on several warrants across different jurisdictions, was spotted driving a stolen vehicle with two passengers on Friday as members of the Independence Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service looked for him.
“Illegal drugs and illegal guns are a lethal combination,” Garrison, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said in Monday’s news release. “A fugitive from justice, driving a stolen vehicle and carrying stolen firearms, is a violent crime waiting to happen. Federal and local law enforcement worked together to bring him to justice and protect our community from further violence.”
Garrison said Monday that any federal agents making arrests as part of the new operation to reduce violent crime locally will be clearly identifiable and will not bear any resemblance to the operation playing out in Portland, Oregon.
“These agents won’t be patrolling the streets,” he said. “They won’t replace or usurp the authority of local officers.”
Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas City, said Tuesday that the charges against Ray are the beginning of an operation that’s still in the process of being rolled out.
What led to first arrest of Operation LeGend
Earlier this month, Ray was involved in a high-speed chase with police after officers tried to contact him about a stolen package, court records show. Before fleeing, he ran over an Independence officer’s foot and backed a car into a patrol vehicle.
When officers ran Ray’s plates Friday, they recognized the vehicle as stolen from Blue Springs, documents show. They pulled him over at the intersection of 107th Street and Blue Ridge Boulevard, where he fled on foot. He was apprehended across the street.
Officers found a loaded semi-automatic handgun in the driver’s seat, a loaded semi-automatic handgun in the center console cup holder and extra rounds in the glove compartment, court records show. Both guns were reported stolen out of Blue Springs. A special agent with the ATF later determined both guns were from outside Missouri and had traveled through interstate commerce
When questioned in custody, Ray confirmed that he was a convicted felon with a warrant out for his arrest, but he said he didn’t realize the car, which he told detectives he borrowed from a friend, was stolen.
He told police he led them on the July 9 chase because he was afraid of being caught in illegal possession of a gun, according to court documents.
‘Campaigning on our murder rate’
At her daily press briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany cited Operation LeGend as a “successful” example of surging federal enforcement in cities experiencing spikes in violent crime.
“At the governor’s request, we went into Kansas City and surged the area with federal assets – FBI, DEA, ATF and US Marshals ... This has been a successful operation that has been waged in [LeGend’s] name, including the arrest of wanted fugitives.”
Lora McDonald, executive director of the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2), an interfaith social justice organization, said she’s not surprised the White House called Operation LeGend a success, adding that she believes such a characterization is often “misused and overused” by the administration.
“It sounds like the president is campaigning on our murder rate, “ she said. “And that’s disgusting.”
For those in the city like herself who have lost loved ones to gun violence, it’s too soon to jump to the conclusion that one arrest equals a success, McDonald said, noting that the charges in this first arrest were not related to a shooting.
She sees success for Kansas City as a reduced homicide rate rather than a reaction to an increased homicide rate.
“There’s a lot of reasons why we have this violent crime problem in Kansas City, and I don’t think it’s an absence of federal agents that has created this homicide problem,” McDonald said. “So how can that be the solution?”
McDonald also asked about the nature of the arrest made.
“So the first arrest they made had nothing to do with a shooting?” she asked of the announcement.
Ledford, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, said while the operation prioritizes unsolved shootings, it also includes violent crimes generally. He added that the officer and agent who arrested Ray may have prevented additional violence, including more shootings, by apprehending him.
“Our office isn’t going to apologize for taking ... a violent armed criminal off the streets,” he said. “That’s exactly what we need to be doing.”
“This fits well within the parameters of Operation LeGend.”
McClatchy’s Michael Wilner contributed reporting.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 5:24 PM.
