Kansas City police fatally shoot armed man suspected of killing 2 teenage boys

Kansas City police fatally shot an armed man suspected in the killings of two teenage boys after an exchange of gunfire on Saturday evening, officials said.

At 6:12 p.m. Kansas City police identified themselves as they sought to make contact with the homicide suspect near Maple Boulevard and East Missouri Avenue, Sgt. Andy Bell, a spokesman with Missouri State Highway Patrol, said during a media conference. Bell said the suspect then “presented a firearm” believed to be a short-barreled rifle before one officer opened fire.

One officer fired his duty weapon and killed the man, Bell said. No other officers fired their weapons. Hanad A. Abdiaziz, 25, was later identified by the Missouri State Highway Patrol as the person killed by the officer.

The officers were following a lead related to a double homicide Friday night, said Capt. Dave Jackson, a spokesman with the Kansas City Police Department. Abdiaziz was named earlier Saturday as KCPD’s chief suspect after two teenage boys were gunned down Friday night outside their apartment as they were returning home from an area mosque.

Family and police on Saturday afternoon identified the homicide victims from Friday as 16-year-old Abdulwahid Abdulaziz and 14-year-old Abdirahman Abdulaziz.

Since last year, Missouri State Highway Patrol has become the lead investigative agency of all officer-involved shootings. Saturday marked the second police shooting involving a KCPD officer since Jan. 1. KCPD is leading the investigation of the homicides involving the two teenagers.

Abdiaziz’s shooting death by police is the 53rd homicide in Kansas City this year. Kansas City ended last year with 182 homicides, the most in the city’s history in a single year, according to data maintained by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings.

Homicide suspected from ‘domestic situation’

Earlier Saturday evening, police asked for help locating 25-year-old Abdiaziz. Police said a warrant for his arrest had been issued just after 6 p.m.

Family said the teens were the younger brothers of Abdiaziz.

Abdurahman Abu, 18, a member of the mosque and a friend of the family, told The Star that the boys were always smiling and brightening up other people’s days.

“They were leaders in their community at a very young age,” Abu said.

The boys loved going to the mosque and reading the Quran, as well as playing basketball with their friends, he said.

“These deaths are devastating and will always have an everlasting effect on the local community,” Abu said. “This incident has really shook us all.”

Officers were called at about 11:30 p.m. Friday to the area of East 8th and Olive streets on a reported shooting, Jackson, the KCPD spokesman, said in an email.

There, police found two juvenile victims with gunshot wounds just outside of an apartment.

Both of the boys were declared dead at the scene, Jackson said. No suspect has been taken into custody.

He said police believed, upon an initial investigation, that a “domestic situation” involving a family member led to the shooting.

The killings drew immediate attention across Kansas City.

“Our young people — and all people — should be safe coming back and forth from religious services. Saddened to hear of the killing of two teenagers returning home from Ramadan services this evening in Northeast,” Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

The police department on Saturday afternoon wrote on Twitter that members of the mosque stopped by the crime scene on Friday evening to mourn the boys.

“Officers and detectives on scene heard story after story about these promising young men who were leaders both in their community and at their mosque,” the department wrote. “It’s become clear that Kansas City has lost two rising stars, and we will do everything we can to seek justice for them.”

The killings Friday marked the 51st and 52nd homicides in Kansas City this year.

Police are asking anyone with information on the shooting Friday to contact homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.

To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.