‘Justice for my family’: Family of man fatally shot by Independence police seek answers
After Tyrea Pryor Jr. helped an older woman out of the rain in September 2019, a scene captured on video by Independence police, the department gave the teen a certificate recognizing his act of kindness.
But now the 16-year-old wants to tear up the award.
On Friday, Independence police officers fatally shot his father Tyrea Pryor, 39, after a disturbance and a car chase that ended near U.S. 24 Highway and Noland Road.
“He felt, you know, these people killed my father,” said Ebony Findley, the teen’s mom.
Questions over Tyrea Pryor’s death have consumed his family.
“We’re more confused than anything because we keep getting different stories,” Findley said.
“They’re telling us they looked into the car and saw a rifle and then yesterday they said it was a shootout.”
And after viewing Pryor’s body alongside the rest of the family on March 14, Findley said they plan on hiring a lawyer to look into the case.
“His body... It was just overkill,” said Crystal Leggs, Tyrea Pryor’s sister.
“It was terrible. You can’t even imagine.”
Pryor’s life
Tyrea Pryor was born in 1982 and raised off Independence Avenue in northeast Kansas City.
His mother, Sophie Collins, raised Pryor alongside his two younger sisters, Marchelle Pryor and Crystal Leggs.
As a young adult, he worked concessions at The Midland Theater to support his mother.
“They were very close,” Leggs said. “She was his support system.”
Leggs described her brother as charismatic and family-oriented. He loved to cook for the family, especially when it came to barbecue.
In 2003, he met then 16-year-old Findley when he spotted her walking down the street in their northeast Kansas City neighborhood. He pulled up next to her in his car and offered to carry her four grocery bags the remaining two blocks home.
“He was basically trying to talk to me and I thought it was sweet,” she said.
After a few months of dating, he moved into her apartment.
Two years later, she was pregnant with their first child, Tyrea Pryor Jr. The couple’s second son, Tyrell Pryor, was born in 2007.
Findley said Tyrea Pryor was a provider.
“He took care of me once I was pregnant and he loved his children,” she said.
“When he would fall on bad times he would always tell them ‘Daddy’s going to do good for you,’”
When Tyrea Pryor’s mother died in 2008, he started to spiral, Findley said.
He could not cope with the grief, began hanging around bad influences and later pleaded guilty to tampering with a motor vehicle.
After 14 years together the couple split, but met up for weekly Sunday dinners at Findley’s home where the family would blast 80s R&B music and Pryor would cook his famous barbecue.
He was always there for the kids with encouraging words and to talk about girls, Findley said, and he never wanted to be a disappointment in their eyes.
“On the night he died, he probably was upset thinking he was going back to jail, not that he was going to die,” she said.
The night of March 11
At just before 8 p.m. Independence police responded to a disturbance call in the 800 block of East College Street.
A woman said three people were banging on her door, according to Officer Jack Taylor, a spokesman for the Independence Police Department. The woman did not know who they were and said the three people had arrived in a white vehicle.
When officers arrived, they saw a white sedan speeding away from the residence and began to pursue.
The police chase ended shortly after, said Sgt. William Lowe, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
But the suspect’s vehicle continued to flee and struck another vehicle near the intersection of U.S. 24 Highway and Noland Road.
As officers cleared the vehicle, they saw Pryor, the driver, allegedly reach for a weapon, according to a search warrant filed with Jackson County Circuit Court.
Two Independence officers fired their weapons, killing Pryor, the document said.
Three shell casings were found inside the vehicle, according to the search warrant.
The driver of the other vehicle was uninjured. The two female passengers with Pryor were interviewed by investigators and taken to an area hospital with injuries caused by the crash, Lowe said.
A gun was found at the scene and seized by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Lowe said Wednesday morning.
‘None of it makes sense’
News of Pryor’s death was shared with the family Saturday morning.
On March 14, Findley and Leggs went to the funeral home to see his body.
He had gashes on his leg and multiple gunshots were visible.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol and Independence police would not confirm how many shots were fired.
But since viewing the body, the family has been searching for answers.
At first, Findley heard from investigators that Tyrea Pryor had displayed a weapon, she said, and later she was told a shootout had ensued.
“None of it makes sense,” said Leggs, who helped start a GoFundMe to raise money for her brother’s funeral.
Pryor’s death has left his two teenage sons struggling with how to cope with the sudden loss.
Fourteen-year-old Tyrell Pryor said he has been struggling mentally. He left a high school class crying last Monday and did not return Tuesday.
“I broke down last night ... I’ve been feeling all of it: sadness, denial, grief,” he said Tuesday.
His brother, Tyrea Pryor Jr., has been crying throughout the night, according to Findley.
The family is looking to hire an attorney to investigate the case and is planning on getting the coroner’s report.
“If they were doing their jobs, then they were doing their jobs and that’s a tragedy, but we’ll live with that,” Findley said.
“But if something bad happened, I’m going to make sure we get justice for my family.”
The Star’s Bill Lukitsch contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 1:34 PM.
