Gladstone officer fatally shoots car burglary suspect after allegedly being dragged: Police
A Gladstone officer fatally shot a suspected car burglar after the suspect allegedly dragged the officer while trying to flee in a car early Friday, a spokesman for the Gladstone Police Department said.
At about 3:20 a.m., officers responded to the Englewood Vista apartments in the 5700 block of North Main Street in Gladstone to investigate reports of prowlers breaking into cars, said Capt. Bryan Boydston.
Shortly after arriving, officers found three people. One of them ran and was able to escape. Police arrested a possible suspect in the parking lot.
Meanwhile, the third suspect attempted to get into a car and flee.
An officer attempted to keep him from leaving and a fight ensued inside the vehicle, Boydston said. The suspect started to drive away and allegedly dragged the officer to the exit of the apartment complex’s parking lot, he said.
“As that officer was being dragged, he shot the suspect unknown number of times,” Boydston said. “That vehicle then crashed into another vehicle.”
Officers on the scene began rendering aid to the suspect who had been shot. An ambulance took him to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, Boydston said.
The man killed in the shooting was a 34-year-old Kansas City resident, police said Friday afternoon.
The officer who was dragged received minor injuries. He was treated at the scene and released. Police were working to confirm his identity.
No description was available for the person who ran from the scene.
The Northland Officer-Involved Shooting Team,d which is made up of detectives from police agencies in Kansas City’s Northland, has taken over the investigation of the shooting.
The suspect who was arrested at the scene was being interviewed by detectives.
Car break-ins are not typical at the apartment complex, Boydston said.
“Up in the Northland, all the apartment complexes are, you know, a good starting point when you’re looking for car prowlers just because of the number of cars that are parked in apartment complexes,” he said. “But here, no. It’s not something that’s typical of this area.”
