KC area cop killed Tuesday was in same academy class as other recently slain officer
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North Kansas City cop dies in traffic stop shooting
The police officer shot during a traffic stop Tuesday in North Kansas City has died. The officer was identified as Daniel Vasquez, who had been on the force for two years, North Kansas City Police Chief Kevin Freeman said during a news conference. Clay County Prosecutor Dan White charged Joshua T. Rocha, 24, Wednesday with one count each of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Vasquez.
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The 32-year-old North Kansas City police officer shot and killed during a traffic stop on Tuesday afternoon was part of the same class of recruits as an Independence officer who was also killed in the line of duty 10 months ago, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
Officer Daniel Vasquez, of North Kansas City police, was fatally shot shortly before 11 a.m. near the intersection of 21st Avenue and Clay Street. Authorities said Tuesday that the driver of a sedan exited his car and fired upon Vasquez after being pulled over for an expired temporary license plate.
Vasquez died at an area hospital. After a brief manhunt, which included a statewide alert issued by the Missouri Highway Patrol, authorities said a subject of interest had surrendered Tuesday afternoon.
Officer Jack Taylor, an Independence police spokesman, said Tuesday that Vasquez was part of the same police academy as slain Independence Officer Blaize Madrid-Evans. Madrid-Evans was shot and killed Sept. 15, while still in field training, as officers were responding to a tip about a person who may have had an active warrant.
Authorities have said Madrid-Evans, 22, was killed during an exchange of gunfire with another man, who also died. Police later identified him as 33-year-old Cody L. Harrison.
Taylor said Vasquez was among the police officers who came to the department with gifts in the wake of Madrid-Evans’ death. He said Vasquez brought in a wooden Thin Blue Line flag that hangs in police headquarters.
Authorities released little information Tuesday about the identity of Vasquez’s suspected shooter. Earlier information offered by authorities as he was actively being sought described him as a white man driving a gray sedan.
Kansas City police were handling the homicide investigation, at the request of North Kansas City police and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. A KCPD police spokesman said a “subject of interest” was being held in police custody on Tuesday evening.
This story was originally published July 19, 2022 at 9:47 PM.
