Woman recalls ‘nightmare’ scene as Kansas City, Kansas, police shot, killed estranged boyfriend
The 35-year-old mother of four cowered in a room in the rear of her home, and frantically dialed 911 Friday afternoon as her estranged boyfriend used a sledgehammer to pound through the back door of her Kansas City, Kansas, home.
The man, who police identified Monday as 60-year-old Dennis Delgado, had already fired multiple shots into the same back door by that point. Moments before officers pulled up, a friend of the woman fired a shot, striking Delgado in his lower body.
Officers arrived at the residence in the 5000 block of Vista Street just after 4 p.m. and ordered him to drop his weapon, she said. They fatally shot the man when he refused.
“It was like a nightmare,” said the woman who asked not to be identified. “He’s harassing me every single day this week.”
The shooting, which took place June 25, was the second time within five days that Kansas City, Kansas, police had fatally shot a suspect.
Last Sunday, officers fatally shot a man at 18th Street and Parallel Parkway. A chase that began in Kansas City, Missouri traveled across the state line into Kansas. Police said Dario Dominguez, 25, turned and shot at officers, who returned fire.
“’Don’t point that weapon at me,’” the woman recalled officers told Delgado during the encounter at her home. “The cops stated over and over, ‘don’t point that over here. Please drop the gun, drop the gun,’ and then just gunfire and it was all over.”
The woman said she did not see if Delgado tried to shoot at the officers.
“They gave him fair warning. I will say that,” she said. “I mean, like I honestly believe that if he made it inside, I would not be here today.”
Police said Delgado did not live at the home, but was at the house and causing a situation police described as “domestic.”
The woman said he was the father of two of her children. She and her friend were unharmed during the incident on Friday.
Three officers were involved in the encounter and have been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure. It’s unclear how many officers fired their weapons. Officers were equipped with body cameras, which will be reviewed as part of the investigation.
The attempted break in Friday was the latest in a campaign of harassment the woman said she had recently endured.
“I was trying to keep it cordial,” she said. “For the sake of the kids, I just kept at it.”
The woman said she had filed a restraining order against the man early that week.
“He has broke into my home and taken TV’s, washer and dryer, money,” the woman wrote in the restraining order application. “He has been removed from the lease so he is no longer able to be on the property.
“He has called...my friends, family, my work and employers. He said he was going to kill me and then himself.”
Bill Lukitsch and Katie Moore contributed information to this report.
