Trump misspeaks about reduction in Kansas City murder rate during Operation LeGend
President Donald Trump erroneously claimed Monday that murders have sharply declined by 33% in Kansas City since the launch of Operation LeGend, a federal program meant to curb violent crime in U.S. cities.
Kansas City has recorded 135 homicides so far, putting it on track to become the deadliest year on record, according to data maintained by The Star.
Trump administration officials said that the president’s misstatement came from a tweet from the Kansas City Police Department, which wrote on Aug. 25 that violent crime overall — not just homicides — had declined 30% since the federal operation began.
Homicides have declined by 15%, according to the police department.
The Department of Justice announced the creation of Operation LeGend on July 8. Named after LeGend Taliferro, a 4-year-old Kansas City boy who was fatally shot in June, the operation has brought hundreds of federal agents to Kansas City to support investigations.
“Since the beginning of Operation LeGend, we have conducted more than 1,000 arrests and reduced the murder rate in Kansas City, which is one of the cities we targeted, by one-third; got it down 33 percent,” Trump said during a briefing with reporters.
There have been 32 homicides in Kansas City since the operation was announced, including a woman who was found with a fatal gunshot Monday morning.
The federal operation has expanded to several U.S. cities including St. Louis, Chicago, Albuquerque, Memphis, and Detroit, among others.
“We’ll straighten out the city very quickly, whichever city we may be talking about,” Trump said.
This story was originally published August 31, 2020 at 8:19 PM.
