David K Crosby-Dowdy, 25

Kansas City, Missouri
November 30, 2016

Agencies: Kansas City Police Department - Missouri | St. Louis Department of Public Safety Missouri

Cause of death: Shooting

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Last updated: over 5 years ago

Overview

Ten people were taken into custody after an officer-involved shooting Wednesday afternoon led to a standoff.

Kansas City police shot and killed a robbery suspect who police said was reaching for a gun during his arrest on Van Brunt Boulevard.

No officers were injured, and police performed CPR on the man, who had been shot at Eighth Street and Van Brunt Boulevard about 2:45 p.m. The man was rushed to a hospital in critical condition and later died at Truman Medical Center.

The shooting occurred when Kansas City police patrol and street narcotics officers pulled over a car on Van Brunt near Eighth Street as part of a planned arrest. The man, a suspect in several robberies, had told police Wednesday morning that he was armed and ready for a shootout with officers if they attempted to arrest him, police said.

Initially, the man complied with the officers who pulled him over, but he apparently changed his mind, police said.

The shooting happened when officers, both uniformed and in plain clothes, tried to remove the man from the car. Police shot the man as he reached for a gun, police said. The officers immediately rendered first aid and called for paramedics.

Police were working to determine how many shots were fired and how many officers shot him.

The shooting occurred in the middle of the street on Van Brunt.

After the shooting, officers converged on a home in the area of Ninth Street and Cleveland Avenue. Initially six people exited the home, but a standoff ensued after other occupants failed to exit the premises, police said.

Four people located inside were taken into custody after officers entered the home.

A search warrant was obtained for the home, and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

Police blocked traffic for several blocks around the scene.

Police Chief Darryl Forté was on the scene but declined to comment. Several of his top commanders and the department’s legal adviser also were on the scene.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker and two of her assistants arrived to oversee the investigation.

A man who witnessed the aftermath of the shooting said he saw the police pull a man and a woman from a car and later place the man in an ambulance.

Enrique Lopez and another worker at his father’s automotive shop in the 800 block of Van Brunt said that they didn’t hear gunshots but happened upon the shooting after hearing sirens.

“We heard the sirens, came outside and saw about four or five undercover police cars,” Lopez said.

A man who lives in the area and who only wanted to be identified as Ronnie said he returned home on Seventh Street and Van Brunt less than an hour after the shooting.

Crime scene tape cordoned off much of Ronnie’s access to and from Van Brunt, he said.

“Coming home and seeing all of this, it’s like wow,” Ronnie said. “This is literally right here where I lay my head.”

Ronnie lamented the effect the deadly encounter would have on the quality of life in the neighborhood.

“It’s ridiculous knowing someone got shot right here,” he said. “It’s just too close to home.”

Another bystander who didn’t want to be identified said he was checking on his sister-in-law and her children while his brother was at work.

The man stood on the corner of Sixth and Van Brunt, two blocks from his brother’s home in the 800 block of Van Brunt. He could see the home amid heavy police presence from his post on the corner.

The man said he was anxious to see his brother’s family.

“I asked the police if I could check on my family but they said, no, that’s a negative, right there,” the man said. “I just want to make sure that they are OK.”