Blue Springs police shoot, kill suspect who they say fired first at officers Tuesday
A man was shot and killed by Blue Springs police Tuesday afternoon after he first shot at officers, according to the police department.
The shooting happened at about 4:45 p.m., while members of the Blue Springs Police Department were helping another agency arrest two people near a Walmart off Northeast R D Mize Road, Blue Springs Police Chief Bob Muenz said.
The man ran from the Walmart parking lot and the shooting unfolded a block away near Northeast Sunnyside School Road and Northeast R D Mize Road, police said. No officers were physically injured.
“When officers attempted to approach the individuals, one used a firearm and shot at officers on scene,” an initial Facebook post by the police department read. “Officers returned fire killing one individual.”
The officers administered CPR and called an ambulance, but the man was declared dead at the scene, Muenz said. His name has not yet been released, pending family notification.
Prior encounters with police
A few days earlier, the man “fired rounds at a deputy” during a pursuit involving the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, Muenz said. He didn’t know the reason for the initial chase by the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s investigation into the man continued into Tuesday, when they followed him to a Walmart in Blue Springs.
About 4 p.m. the sheriff’s office called Blue Springs police, asking for backup as they attempted to approach the man as he left Walmart, Muenz said.
At that point, Muenz said, the man ran from the Walmart parking lot, ending up in a residential area about a block southwest of the store.
“It’s my understanding from preliminary investigation that he pointed a firearm at them and maybe fired that firearm. Possibly fired that firearm,” Muenz said. “They returned fire, striking him.”
Of the two officers who fired their weapons, one is a training officer and the other is a recruit, Muenz said, adding that both have experience in the field.
‘One of the scariest moments’
Sherry Carpenter heard the sirens first.
The 50-year-old nurse, who lives in an apartment south of the Walmart, said car crashes are common at the busy intersection next to her home. So, assuming there had been a wreck, she stepped outside to see if anyone needed her help.
Just a couple feet out the door, she noticed a police officer running across the opposite yard, parallel to Northeast Sunnyside School Road.
“And he was shooting,” she said.
She estimated she heard between 30 and 50 gunshots.
“I mean a lot. It was pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, from the officer running across,” she said.
She had also heard gunfire from the other direction, but she couldn’t see who it was coming from before she ran back inside her house and locked the doors.
Carpenter grabbed her boyfriend’s shotgun and hid in the bathroom with the lights out. She worried whoever police were shooting at might try to take cover in her own home, where she was alone at the time.
After several minutes of silence, she peeked out the door. Across the street, paramedics put someone into a body bag and then into an ambulance.
“It was probably one of the scariest moments I’ve ever been through in my entire life. Seriously, I’m a small town girl from Higginsville, so I’m not used to hearing gunshots in my neighborhood. I’m not used to any of that,” Carpenter said. “To see what I saw, seriously, I don’t have any words.”
Highway patrol investigates
Missouri State Highway Patrol began its investigation of the shooting Tuesday evening.
The officers involved were wearing body cameras, Muenz said. They will be part of the investigation. From there, it will determined whether or not the shooting was “justified.”
Another man had been with the man who was shot. Muenz said he had been the one driving at Walmart. He was taken into custody Tuesday evening. No other information was immediately available.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s a sad situation,” Muenz said Tuesday evening. “This does not happen in Blue Springs very often.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2022 at 6:18 PM.
