Kansas City police shoot and injure woman while investigating suspected carjacking
Update: Days after the shooting, Kansas City police said they will not be releasing body cam video of the shooting any time soon. This story explains why.
Kansas City police officers shot and seriously wounded a woman on Friday night in the Independence Plaza neighborhood as they were attempting to arrest her and a man in connection with a suspected carjacking, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Around 8 p.m. two Kansas City police officers located a vehicle that matched the description of one reported stolen from Kansas City, Kansas, Sgt. Andy Bell, a spokesman for the patrol, said at the scene. The vehicle was discovered inside the parking lot of a Family Dollar store near the intersection of 6th Street and Prospect Avenue.
Information provided by dispatch was that there was a male and a female suspect, possibly armed, Bell said. Once officers approached the vehicle, Bell said, a male suspect allegedly exited the driver’s side and began to run away.
As they began a foot chase, a female suspect allegedly exited the vehicle’s passenger door. Both officers fired their weapons at the woman as she was near other vehicles in the parking lot, Bell said.
The woman was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. Bell said she was listed in stable condition late Friday night.
The male suspect was unharmed and taken into custody, Bell said, but was also hospitalized for an “unrelated medical issue.”
It was unclear whether the woman was armed with a weapon at the time. Bell said a handgun was found near the area where she was shot, though he declined to comment further.
“We’re not going to comment on the exact sequences of an encounter with an alleged armed suspect,” Bell said, adding: “Everything is going to be analyzed and scrutinized by our investigators as it is always.”
State troopers are leading the investigation of the police shooting. Investigators from the agency were on the scene Friday night.
Interim Police Chief Joseph Mabin arrived at the shooting scene and gave a brief statement to reporters but declined to take questions. He said the department would be fully transparent with the highway patrol as the shooting review was conducted.
“We never want to be in these types of situations. Not the public, not the police department. Any time anything happens like this, it’s a blight on our community,” Mabin said.
This story was originally published May 27, 2022 at 9:36 PM.
