Cameron Lamb’s family marks 5 years since killing as former KCPD officer awaits clemency

They ate pizza and drank Powerade, his favorite snacks. A Chiefs helmet rested on a table, a nod to his beloved team. Old stories were remembered.

Five years after former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere shot and killed 26-year-old Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019, Lamb’s family and friends gathered Tuesday to mark what would be a solemn anniversary under any circumstance.

But even as they looked back, Lamb’s supporters braced for what’s ahead.

Outgoing Gov. Mike Parson is openly weighing whether to free DeValkenaere, who’s served roughly one year of a six-year prison sentence. And his fellow Republican, Gov-elect Mike Kehoe, who takes office on Jan. 13, has promised the ex-officer “will be home with his family” if Parson doesn’t act before leaving.

For Lamb’s family, the prospect of the man who killed their loved one walking free within a matter of weeks or months is a source of anger and disappointment. It is compounded by the fact that DeValkenaere is the first Kansas City police officer ever convicted of killing a Black man, at the time hailed as a landmark act of accountability in a city with a police force under state control.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard,” Lamb’s stepfather, Aquil Bey, said of the clemency anticipated from Kehoe, who has said he and his wife are friends with DeValkenaere’s wife.

DeValkenaere shot Lamb roughly nine seconds after arriving at Lamb’s home while investigating a reported traffic incident on Dec. 3, 2019. He shot Lamb as Lamb was backing his pickup truck into his garage. The detective said he believed his partner’s life was in danger.

His partner told investigators that he did not see Lamb with a gun, however, and prosecutors contended a gun found on the ground beneath Lamb’s arm, which was hanging out the window, was planted.

At a 2021 bench trial, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge J. Dale Youngs found DeValkenaere guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.

About 50 people gathered Tuesday at the Black Archives of Mid-America to remember Lamb and his life. Lamb, who had three children, had been called a “momma’s boy” by family members. They recalled his favorite artists – The Isley Brothers and The Sugarhill Gang, along with Marvin Gaye.

“He was young but he really had an old soul but I think he got a lot of that personality from me,” said Laurie Bey, his mother.

But reminisces about his life were intertwined with memories of his death and preemptive frustration at what appears to be all but certain clemency for DeValkenaere.

Laurie Bey noted that Lamb died on a Tuesday and the anniversary of his death once again fell on a Tuesday. He had recently attended a Chiefs game against the Raiders, the team the Chiefs just played on Friday.

As they have in the past, the group released nine balloons – one for each second between when DeValkenaere arrived at Lamb’s home and when the officer shot him.

“We love you, we miss you, we’re going to keep your memory alive,” Laurie Bey shouted as the final balloon floated toward the sky.

DeValkenaere’s allies have long cast the prosecution – led by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, a Democrat – as political. A spokesperson for Kehoe has called Baker, who will leave office in January, a “woke prosecutor” who delivered an unjust sentencing, even though a judge sentenced DeValkenaere.

The former detective’s wife, Sarah DeValkenaere, has led a year-long campaign to pressure Parson to grant a commutation.

“Eric served honorably for 20 years with KCPD,” Sarah DeValkenaere wrote on her Facebook page last month. “Unfortunately it’s my belief that a prosecutor who doesn’t support police & wanted to make a name for herself politically charged him for doing his job!”

Baker attended Tuesday’s remembrance, hugging Laurie Bey after arriving and speaking staunchly in support of the prosecution. Several speakers thanked Baker even as Parson or Kehoe may soon wipe away the conviction she helped secure.

“When you take on the police – and you shouldn’t have to, shouldn’t have to – but when you need to, there is a price to pay for that,” Baker said. “And there’s been some pretty heavy prices I’ve paid for it, but I do not regret it. Not for one moment.”

While Parson has made comments sympathetic to DeValkenaere, Kehoe appears to be a stronger ally, calling Sarah DeValkenaere a “good friend” of him and his wife. Shortly after he was elected, the incoming governor effectively promised to ensure the former detective’s freedom.

“I met Sarah and Eric before he was imprisoned and I would say wrongly. I believe we need to have Eric’s back,” Kehoe told reporters in November. “And I’ve been very vocal about saying should I succeed in running for governor, Eric DeValkenaere will be home with his family.”

Kehoe’s open invocation of his friendship with DeValkenaere’s wife infuriates Lamb’s family. In a recent interview with The Star, Laurie Bey said Kehoe plans to release the ex-officer “based off of a friendship.” She called the situation “not right.”

Neither Parson or Kehoe have ever spoken with Lamb’s family.

“I think it’s just so disrespectful for you to say you all want to have this man’s back who murdered an innocent man, took him from his family and his boys,” Laurie Bey said Tuesday.

Kehoe’s transition has previously said the incoming governor holds “close relationships” with many law enforcement families across the state and that any clemency would be because of an unjust sentencing.

Even as “certain things are being talked about” in Jefferson City, Aquil Bey urged those gathered to remember Lamb to keep faith. Those in attendance were instrumental in “trying to get justice from the injustice that was done,” he said.

“Whatever happens,” Aquil Bey said, “don’t let it destroy the commitment that’s been made and the connection that has been made with the community and those like in law enforcement or in our judicial system.”

This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 4:46 PM.