Two KC police officers, one suspect wounded in gunfire exchange

[chris2001]

By TONY RIZZO

The Kansas City Star



GARVEY SCOTT | The Kansas City Star
Two Kansas City police officers and a third man were shot during an exchange of gunfire about 1:50 this afternoon at Gregory Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue.

• KC police officers, suspect shot

Two Kansas City police officers and a third man were shot during an exchange of gunfire about 1:50 this afternoon at Gregory Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue.
Another officer rushed the most seriously wounded officer to a hospital in a pick-up truck. That wounded officer was hit three times. Later this afternoon, police officials reported that he was in critical condition at an area hospital. The second officer was wounded in the arm and was reported to be in stable condition.
Officers arrested two persons at the scene.
According to police, three uniformed tactical officers tried to pull over a car at Cleveland and Gregory. The car headed east before the driver stopped at Myrtle. As officers approached the car, the driver got out and began shooting, police said. The officers returned fire.
Sgt. Tony Sanders, a police spokesman, would not say what type of investigation the officers were conducting when the shooting happened.
A woman standing more than a block away reported hearing gunfire then “cops were everywhere,” she said. Two other witnesses saw a black truck and a white car in the area shortly before the shooting began.
One witnesses reported hearing 50 to 60 rounds being fired.
Police began a door-to-door canvass to make sure no one else in the area had been hit.

| Tony Rizzo, trizzo@kcstar.com

[Emily]

dammit.

[kjlaw]

Thoughts and Prayers enroute.

[Big Al]

I hope the "third man" hit was the shooting suspect.

Get well brothers!!

[Jenna]

Best wishes for a quick and full recovery.

[snuffy2202]

It is 101 degrees today, and I was seriously considering not wearing my vest. Thanks for the lesson. My vest will be on...always!

[Davia]

Prayers are going out to everyone involved!

[chris2001]

KC police officers wounded in two gunbattles

By TONY RIZZO, CHRISTINE VENDEL and JOYCE TSAI

The Kansas City Star



A gunman who fired at police officers after they boxed in his vehicle at Gregory Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue was wounded by return fire. Two other people who were in the car were not injured, but were arrested.

• NBC Action News: Rolling gun battle
• NBC Action News: Officer recovering
• KC police officers, suspect shot

Two gunbattles between Kansas City police and armed suspects Tuesday afternoon left two officers wounded, one critically, and swaths of south-central Kansas City shut down late into the evening.Two suspects were critically wounded by police. One of the suspects died Wednesday morning.
Dozens of bullets were fired in the two incidents, including the second gunfight that left 20 blocks of Prospect Avenue littered with shell casings.
“We’re juggling chain saws,” one officer radioed his dispatcher as police attempted to block access to a major traffic artery while combing the sweltering pavement for shell casings and other evidence.
Officers spent hours attempting to unravel the chaotic chain of events while enduring the highest temperatures of the year. Veteran officers were hard-pressed to remember anything similar.
“It’s been a day like no other,” said police spokesman Sgt. Tony Sanders.
Both incidents involved tactically trained officers being fired on as they attempted to stop suspects in vehicles.
Officers still at the scene of the earlier incident could hear gunshots as the second incident unfolded blocks away.
Just before 2 p.m., dispatchers sent out the emergency signal that an officer was down at Gregory Boulevard and Myrtle Avenue, near Swope Park.
Three tactical officers with the street narcotics unit were assisting officers with the gang unit who were looking for a person they thought was in a suspect vehicle.
As the vehicle turned off of Gregory onto Myrtle, police boxed it in. As officers got out and approached, the driver began to back up and rammed the police vehicle behind him. The gunman, thought to be the driver, then got out and began shooting before officers dropped him with return fire.
The most seriously wounded officer was shot three times, and fellow officers bundled him into a pickup and rushed him to a hospital. Other officers blocked intersections along the route so the truck could get to the emergency room within minutes.
A second officer suffered an arm wound and was released from a hospital later Tuesday.
It was not known how many times the suspect was hit, but police said he was hospitalized in critical condition late Tuesday afternoon. Two others in the car with him, including a juvenile, were not injured and were arrested.
Police said the person they had sought was not in the vehicle, but the three occupants were “associates” of him.
Police did not release the name of the wounded suspect, but sources told The Kansas City Star that he was a 23-year-old man who lived in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred.
According to Jackson County Circuit Court records, the man has convictions for attempted burglary and drug trafficking and is currently on probation in both cases.
A woman working about a block away reported hearing numerous shots, then “cops were everywhere,” she said.
Other witnesses agreed there was a tremendous volume of gunfire. One man said he thought 50 to 60 shots were fired.
It was about four hours later and about a mile away when tactical officers doing surveillance near Gregory and Prospect spotted a car with four people inside. As officers approached the car, one of the occupants fired shots at officers and the car sped north with at least two unmarked police cars in pursuit.
The gunbattle proceeded for 20 blocks along Prospect before the suspects’ car crashed near 51st Street.
One of the suspects fled into an alley, where he was arrested. The others remained in the car. One of the suspects in the car was shot and critically wounded and died Wednesday. Two other suspects were treated for minor injuries.
No officers were injured in the incident.
Officers recovered a handgun dropped outside the car and an assault rifle from inside the vehicle. They also found a sizable amount of narcotics in the car.
Sanders would not say whether the two shooting incidents were related but said investigators were looking into the possibility.
Asked whether people were getting more brazen in firing on officers, Sanders said only, “We’re trained for the worst, and we hope for the best.”

To reach Christine Vendel, call 816-234-4438 or send e-mail to cvendel@kcstar.com. To reach Tony Rizzo, call 816-234-4435 or send e-mail to trizzo@kcstar.com. To reach J

[SaraJ]

Seems like every day there's another officer shot or killed. What's going on up there? I thought that only happened here! Prayers for the 2 officers and hoping for a quick recovery.