21-year-old charged in Memorial Day weekend shooting at frisbee golf tournament
Jackson County prosecutors on Monday brought charges against a 21-year-old accused of firing shots at a group of people participating in Kansas City Flying Disc Challenge Saturday, critically injuring one person.
Osman Igal of Kansas City faces charges of first degree assault and armed criminal action after he, according to charging documents, followed a group at a frisbee golf tournament in Kessler Park and opened fire.
Officers with the Kansas City Police Department were dispatched around 2 p.m. to the area of 2200 Cliff Drive Saturday on reports of a shooting.
When they arrived, officers located the victim, a man, lying on the ground suffering from a gunshot wound to the lower back. He was transported to a local hospital where he was rushed into surgery in critical condition. The man, whose name has not be released, was still in critical condition as of Monday, according to court documents.
Witnesses at the scene said they were at the park to play frisbee golf and noticed Igal before they started the tournament, with one witness telling police that Igal seemed to be “out of sorts.” None of them knew Igal.
As the group began the first round and approached their first hole, Igal began to follow them, according to the court documents. Someone then yelled something about a gun and then witnesses say they heard about three to four gun shots ring out.
That is allegedly when one of the members of the group was struck by a bullet.
A couple of witnesses then saw Igal running away from the scene, they told police, according to court documents. Police found Igal near Maple Boulevard and Lexington, running and still holding the pistol. According to charging documents, officers gave him verbal directions to stop and drop the gun, which he did. He was then taken into custody without incident.
Igal refused to speak with detectives, who wrote to prosecutors that: “Igal should be considered a serious danger to the public as he walked up to a group of individuals with whom he had no prior knowledge of and shot at them without warning from a close distance.”
He is currently in custody on a $100,000 bond.
