VA looks into the fatal shooting by police of KC veteran Issac Sims

A federal agency has begun a review of how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs handled the case of a man shot dead by Kansas City police last month while awaiting mental health treatment.

Issac Sims grabbed a rifle and fired shots inside and outside his family’s East Side home on May 25. That launched an hourslong standoff with police in which authorities said he ultimately pointed his weapon at officers and they shot him.

The 26-year-old Army veteran had served two tours in Iraq. His family has said he sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder at the VA Medical Center in Kansas City and had been told available bed space was about a month away.

After Sims’ death, U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, a Republican from eastern Kansas, wrote to the VA pressing for an investigation.

This week, acting VA inspector general Richard Griffin responded that his independent office has “initiated a review and will provide the results of the review when it is completed.”

Yoder’s office issued a statement Thursday welcoming the probe.

“The sad events surrounding Mr. Sims’s death have left many unanswered questions about the type of care required for our returning veterans,” Yoder said in the statement. “I’m grateful the VA Inspector General has initiated a review so we can get the facts surrounding this tragic case.”

Sims’ case played out against a backdrop of growing complaints nationally about backlogs at VA facilities and accusations that some of the department’s operations falsified records to mask waiting times that stretched out for months.

Five days after the Army veteran’s death, Yoder wrote to the VA inspector general saying Sims’ case raised issues “about what type of care is adequate for our veterans returning home, especially those with PTSD.”

The letter continued: “We cannot undo what has occurred in this case, but we can seek to prevent future tragic incidents like this and provide the best detailed information possible for his surviving family.”

This story was originally published June 19, 2014 at 3:07 PM with the headline "VA looks into the fatal shooting by police of KC veteran Issac Sims."