Parade, vigil for officer killed in Johnson County shootout postponed for weather forecast
The threat of severe weather prompted Johnson County officials organizing a parade and vigil for Jonah Oswald, the Fairway police officer fatally wounded in a shootout this week, to reschedule the events for Saturday.
On Friday afternoon, a forecast of severe thunderstorms loomed over parts of the Kansas City metro area. Included in a prediction from the National Weather Service were supercells that could produce large hail, gusty winds and possible tornadoes.
An enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms existed in Kansas City’s Northland metro area as well as parts of northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri. The storms were expected between 2 and 11 p.m., the weather service said.
Oswald, 29, was fatally injured Sunday in a shootout involving suspects in an auto theft at a QuikTrip in Mission. He was among the officers from several agencies responding to a situation that began with a stolen SUV and police chase in Lenexa.
A husband and a father of two young children, Oswald died Monday at a hospital.
One of the suspects, identified by police as Shannon Wayne Marshall, 40, of Ashland City, Tennessee, was also killed during an exhange of gunfire, police have said. The other, 32-year-old Andrea Rene Cothran of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, is being held in the Johnson County jail on felony charges, including aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer.
In a statement Friday, Master Police Officer Danny Chavez of Lenexa said the events remembering Oswald, a four-year member of the small Fairway Police Department, would be held at the same times, but on Saturday instead.
Beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, a Parade of Blue consisting of police cars and other emergency vehicles will wind its way through Overland Park, Mission, Fairway and Prairie Village.
The parade of police cars will start at the Shamrock Trading Corporation at 9300 Metcalf Avenue, and will head north to Shawnee Mission Parkway.
From there, the procession will follow Shawnee Mission Parkway east to Mission Road.
The police cars will then head south to West 63rd Street, where they will turn and head west to Roe Avenue. The procession will then head south to West 75th Street, east to Mission Road and then south to Harmon Park at 7700 Mission Road.
Once all the parade vehicles have arrived at Harmon Park, a candlelight vigil will take place near the skate park. The estimated time for the vigil is between 9 and 9:30 p.m.
People wishing to honor Oswald during the parade are encouraged to display blue colors at their homes and businesses.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Westside Family Church, 8500 Woodsonia Drive in Lenexa. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the church. Following the services, there will be a short ceremony held outside the church.
