‘Why kill him?’: Kansas City man recalls neighbor shot by police in domestic incident
Shelton Hall heard multiple gunshots near his home on Olive Street in Kansas City early Monday morning.
Later that day, the 60-year-old watched the news and learned police shot and killed his neighbor Shawn Wilson, a 36-year-old Black man, following a domestic disturbance around 3 a.m.
He knew the man: Wilson had moved to the area a few years ago, Hall said, and he would often see him with his partner and a young child.
Wilson seemed nice, Hall said, and quickly became a familiar face in the community.
“I’d see him walking around the neighborhood — he was always a friendly guy, would always wave and talk,” he said.
About a year ago, debris in the backyard of a vacant house between Wilson and Hall’s homes caught fire. Wilson rushed to Hall’s door.
“He came over and woke me up,” Hall said.
Police turned him away
On the morning police shot Wilson, Hall walked out to see what happened. He said officers turned him away and told him to go back to his house.
He wondered why police did not interview him, as they had after other shootings in the neighborhood.
“Normally, police will ask you if you saw or heard anything, but this time they told me to go back,” Hall said.
The Kansas City Police Department declined to comment, instead pointing to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, who is investigating the shooting, to answer questions.
The highway patrol did not respond to a request for comment.
Gunshots can frequently be heard in Olive Street, Hall said. He has lived in the neighborhood almost his entire life, and the once family-friendly neighborhood has now become marked by abandoned buildings and gun violence.
Though many kids still live nearby, the area is less vibrant than it was during his childhood.
The highway patrol is investigating the incident and said police allege the night he was killed, Wilson refused to drop a knife and advanced towards officers, prompting the shooting. Hall wonders why deadly force had to be used.
“He was harmless, really,” Hall said. “They said he had a knife — but even if he had a knife, why not tase him, why kill him?”
There have been at least two other police shootings in Kansas City so far this year, both nonfatal.
There have been at least 72 other police shootings involving the KCPD since 2005. In one high profile case, the officer who killed Cameron Lamb, a 26 year-old Black man, was found guilty of manslaughter last year.
