Here’s when funeral, visitation for Independence officer killed in line of duty will be

Glenn E. Rice
·2 min read

Visitation and funeral services have been scheduled for Blaize Madrid-Evans, an Independence police officer who was killed during an exchange of gun fire with a man sought on a parole violation, police announced Monday.

The visitation for Madrid-Evans, 22, will take place from 5 to 8 p.m., Thursday at the Community of Christ Church auditorium, 1001 W. Walnut Street in Independence.

Funeral services will begin at 11 a.m., Friday at the Community of Christ Church auditorium. Graveside services will be conducted at the Mount Washington Cemetery, 614 South Brookside Avenue in Independence, immediately following the funeral services.

The procession route has not been completed and police officials said they would release those details to the public once they are finalized. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Madrid-Evans, who grew up in Smithville, had only been on patrol for 18 days when he and his field training officer responded to a residence in the 2400 block of South Northern Boulevard on a tip that a suspect, later identified as Cody L. Harrison, was inside the residence.

Outside police headquarters in Independence, flowers had been placed Thursday morning at the foot of a memorial dedicated to those officers who have been killed in the line of duty. Blaize Madrid-Evans, a 22-year-old Independence officer was shot and killed during an armed encounter Wednesday with a Gladstone man. Madrid-Evans was wounded and later died from his injuries during an exchange of gunfire involving the suspect, who was also killed. Officers responded to the shooting around noon Wednesday in the 2400 block of South Northern Boulevard.

The officers were met by Harrison who fired a handgun at them, striking Madrid-Evans. The other officer returned fired, shooting Harrison, according to authorities.

Madrid-Evans was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead several hours later. Harrison died at the scene.

Madrid-Evans was engaged and he had aspired to join the military after high school. He decided to be a police officer and graduated from the Kansas City Regional Police Academy in July, said Officer Jack Taylor, an Independence police spokesman.

On Sunday, Springfield police officer Mark Priebe received a new kidney that was donated by Madrid-Evans, who was an organ donor. Priebe began dialysis in July when kidneys began to fail, the result of a 2020 crash that also left him paralyzed.

The two men were a perfect match, police said.