Man killed Monday by Jackson County deputies in Blue Springs police shooting
A Blue Springs man was fatally shot by a Jackson County deputy in suburban Kansas City on Monday following an armed standoff that involved the agency’s SWAT team, authorities said.
Jackson County deputies were dispatched to a residence near the 28900 block of Southeast Moreland School Road on reports of a man armed with a gun who was firing gunshots into a home. Residents of the home were inside when the gunshots were fired and emergency calls were made.
Around 7:30 p.m., the man allegedly rammed his vehicle into the SWAT team’s armored truck before raising a rifle in a threatening manner toward officers, Sgt. Bill Lowe, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, said at the scene Monday night.
A Jackson County deputy fired one fatal shot at the man. He was identified as 48-year-old Douglas B. Halphin of Blue Springs.
It remained unclear Monday night if the residence he allegedly fired into was his own and what his precise association with the people who lived there was. He remained outside of the residence during the entire encounter, Lowe said, and was near the rear of the home in a large field when the fatal encounter with officers took place.
No one else was injured on Monday, though the gunshots fired into the residence presented a dangerous situation where “somebody could have been seriously injured or killed,” Lowe said.
The police shooting came after attempts by Jackson County deputies to peacefully resolve the situation, Lowe said, including the deputies first on scene and the SWAT team that arrived later.
Police maintained a presence on the scene well into nightfall, closing off a portion of the two-lane road where the shooting unfolded. The area is mostly rural save for an upscale suburban community of cul de sacs and multi story houses.
Investigators were still working to determine what led to the shooting, such as whether the man was suffering from some episode of mental distress, Lowe said. He said fatal police shootings are never “something that we want to take place.”
“Nothing is worth this,” Lowe said of the outcome, adding: “For everybody involved, it’s a bad situation.”
The Missouri State Highway Patrol is handling the shooting investigation. The agency’s findings will eventually be forwarded to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office to determine whether the shooting was justified.
The Star’s Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.
This story was originally published December 6, 2021 at 9:00 PM.
