Prosecutors charge man accused of firing shots at Kansas City police officer
Prosecutors charged a man with assault on a law enforcement officer after he allegedly fired shots at a police officer in Kansas City’s East Community Team South neighborhood on Thursday.
The man and the officer exchanged shots, and the man was taken into custody after a short chase, Kansas City Police said.
Prosecutors in Jackson County Circuit Court on Friday charged Dontayus J. Wiles with one count of second-degree assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of armed criminal action. A Jackson County judge set the man’s cash only bond at $100,000, prosecutors said.
A Kansas City police detective wrote in court documents that a Kansas City police officer had been riding a marked motorcycle in the area of East 27th Street and Jackson Avenue around 1:30 p.m. Thursday when he heard shots being fired. The officer turned and saw a man holding an “AR style weapon” and returned fire at the man before the man ran to a nearby wooded area, according to court documents.
Wiles was taken into custody after a short chase, and police questioned the man, according to court documents.
One witness told police that he had been sitting in a truck in a nearby parking lot when he heard gunshots and saw the man with the rifle. Another witness who was at the scene showed police a photo and video of the man holding a rifle and said she had been driving on Jackson Avenue near the intersection when she saw the two exchanging gunfire.
Investigators found several rifle and pistol shell casings near the intersection and found apparent bullet holes in a nearby building, police said.
