Suspects led police chase after shooting at man who saw them break into cars: KCK police
Two people caught breaking into cars in western Wyandotte County early Tuesday fired shots at one of their victims who chased after them and then led police on a high-speed chase from Kansas into Missouri that ended in a rollover crash, police said.
Both suspects were ejected in the crash and were taken to a hospital. The passenger had life-threatening injuries and the driver had serious injuries.
The suspects allegedly were breaking into cars in the Westlake neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, about 2:45 a.m. Tuesday. One of their victims confronted the suspects as they were breaking into his car, said Nancy Chartrand, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.
The victim started chasing the suspects, who fled in a white late-1990s or early 2000s Chevrolet Silverado extended cab pickup truck. Near 110th Street and Stave Avenue, the suspects got behind the victim and started shooting at him, Chartrand said.
Officers spotted the suspect vehicle shortly there after at 75th Street and State and began to pursue it.
By the time the pickup reached 65th Street, it had reached 100 mph, according to audio of police radio traffic captured by Broadcastify.com.
At times, the vehicle was headed the wrong way in the westbound lanes of State Avenue.
“Speeds down to 70 miles an hour; he’s back in the correct lanes. We are passing 55th Street,” the pursuing officer told dispatchers. “And correction, he just jumped back over. He’s now the wrong way again. But were about 80 mile an hour.”
A supervisor told the officer to keep him updated on traffic conditions but to continue the chase.
At Interstate 635, the chase headed south from State Avenue. The officer advised that the driver was in the correct lanes of travel.
“He’s swerving between all the lanes of travel right now,” the pursuing officer said. “We are taking 70 east. He almost lost it there, 70 eastbound, but we are up and on from 635 now.”
The driver sped up again, with speeds of 100 mph reported as the chase passed 18th Street. The driver then took Interstate 670 eastbound.
“There is a weapon inside the vehicle,” a dispatcher advised during the chase. “There is a handgun inside the vehicle. The vehicle was shooting at another vehicle.”
The chase entered into Missouri and went across the south side of the downtown loop and onto eastbound I-70, past The Paseo.
The pickup exited at Brooklyn Avenue and continued east on 14th Street at very high speed, said Capt. Leslie Foreman, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department.
The driver of the lost control of the pickup at the intersection of 14th and Prospect Avenue.
“It went straight off the roadway into the grassy embankment,” Foreman said. “The Chevrolet went up the embankment, struck a chain link fence and went over the 15-foot concrete wall.”
The pickup was spinning as as it went over the wall, ejecting the two suspects.
“Rollover,” the pursuing officer advised dispatchers as the crash happened.
Another officer advised dispatchers that they needed ambulances sent to the ramp to eastbound I-70 from Prospect. The crash occurred shortly after 3 a.m.
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 11:38 AM.
