Police Chief Rick Smith said ‘bad guy’s dead’ minutes after KC detective killed Cameron Lamb
Minutes after a now-convicted Kansas City police detective fatally shot Cameron Lamb, Police Chief Rick Smith was captured on audio saying the “bad guy’s dead.”
Det. Eric DeValkenaere shot Lamb as the 26-year-old Kansas Citian backed his pickup truck into the garage of his home on Dec. 3, 2019, at 4154 College Ave. Earlier this month, DeValkenaere was found guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in a bench trial.
Shortly after arriving at the crime scene in December 2019, Smith is heard on a recording saying: “Everyone is good, house is clear. Bad guy’s dead.”
A source close to the investigation confirmed to The Star that it was Smith who made the remark.
The recording was obtained by The Star through a Sunshine request with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office. The audio was submitted during the criminal trial but was not highlighted during proceedings.
In an email to The Star, police spokesman Sgt. Jacob Becchina said the department would not comment because the case is still being adjudicated. He said disclosure of the video could risk a violation of the Sunshine Law.
“The video you reference was not provided by KCPD,” Becchina said, “as such anything on it cannot be authenticated by us.”
A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office declined to comment.
The audio was captured from an open radio of an officer who stood near Smith at the crime scene. The video was from the dashboard camera from a police vehicle.
The comments were made as crime scene technicians gathered evidence and homicide investigators canvassed the neighborhood for potential witnesses. Lamb’s body had not yet been removed from the garage.
The shooting occurred after officers investigating an unrelated crash reported a red pickup chasing a purple Ford Mustang. Officers in a police helicopter spotted the truck driven by Lamb and followed the vehicle to his residence on College Ave.
DeValkenaere said he fired four shots after Lamb pointed a gun at his partner, Det. Troy Schwalm. Police investigating the shooting found Lamb inside the vehicle with his left arm and head hanging out of the driver’s side window. On the ground near his left hand was a handgun, according to police.
During the criminal trial, prosecutors alleged the crime scene was staged and evidence was planted. They also said it took only nine seconds from the time DeValkenaere arrived at the front yard of the house to the moment he pulled the trigger on his handgun.
In announcing the verdict, Jackson County Judge J. Dale Youngs said neither DeValkenaere nor Schwalm had the right to walk onto the property to investigate the earlier vehicle chase.
Civil rights organizations and community leaders have long called for Smith to be removed, citing the fatal shootings of several Black men by Kansas City officers, a tenuous relationship with community which worsened last year during protests and an alarming number of homicides.
Under Smith’s leadership, the department publicly took the position that if a police officer fired his or her weapon, it must be justified.
On Monday, the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners confirmed that Smith will retire in spring 2022, several months earlier that what he had previously told the board in private. The Star reported last week that Smith was being forced out as leader of the department, following DeValkenaere’s conviction.
Lamb’s name, along with other Black men killed by Kansas City police officers, was evoked last year throughout racial justice protests in Kansas City.
As of Tuesday, a sentencing date for DeValkenaere has not been set, according to court records.
