Fallen Independence officer Cody Allen being remembered at visitation, funeral this week
The Independence community and police officers from agencies across the country will gather Thursday and Friday to mourn and honor fallen police officer Cody Allen, who died in the line of duty last week.
Allen, a 35-year-old Independence police officer, husband and father of two small children, was shot and killed Thursday after shots were fired during an eviction.
Drexel Mack, a 41-year-old civil process server for the Jackson County Circuit Court, also was shot and killed while serving a writ of possession at a home in northeast Independence.
Two other police officers were shot and wounded, and were expected to recover.
A public visitation for Allen will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Community of Christ — Auditorium at 1001 W. Walnut Street in Independence.
The funeral services will be at 11 a.m. on Friday at the auditorium. All vehicles arriving for the service will need to enter from the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Walnut Street and follow parking directions from there.
Following the funeral, a procession will leave the auditorium and proceed east on Walnut and head north on Memorial Drive past Independence Police headquarters at 223 N. Memorial Drive. The procession will then head east on Truman Road to Lee’s Summit Road, where it will head south. At 39th Street, the procession will head east to Little Blue Parkway and then south to Interstate 70.
The procession will continue east on I-70, through Odessa to the Odessa Cemetery, where law enforcement honors and graveside services will take place.
Drivers should anticipate delays on Friday if traveling in the area of the funeral services and the procession.
Allen, a 2007 graduate of Odessa High School, began his law enforcement career with the Layfette County Sheriff Department. He joined the Grandview Police Department in 2010, where he served for six years.
He joined the Independence Police Department in 2017. In April 2018, he went part time with the department’s SWAT unit. In June 2019, he transferred to the department’s special operations — accident investigations unit.
Allen is the second Independence officer who was fatally shot in the line of duty in recent years. Blaize Madrid-Evans, 22, was killed in September 2021.
The Jackson County Circuit Court announced Tuesday that it will hold a ceremony to honer the life and service of Mack, calling him a valued member of the court for more than a decade.
The ceremony, which is open to the public, will be at 11 a.m. Monday at the 12th Street entrance of the Jackson County Courthouse at 415 E. 12th Street in downtown Kansas City.
Mack worked with the courts for 12 years. During his career, he was named the top employee during his third year with the office and received glowing reviews from his coworkers, said Jack Foster, director of the court’s civil process servers in a press conference after his death.
Larry Acree, 69, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Allen and Mack. Acree is also accused of first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
The shooting unfolded shortly after 1 p.m. last Thursday as Mack, along with another civil process server, was trying to carry out an eviction. Acree lost his home over back taxes, court records show.
Mack was shot after entering the front door. Police officers responded to the home and Allen was struck in the head by another round of gunfire from the home.
