A man was found dead inside a house about 18 hours into a standoff that started late Tuesday night when three Kansas City police officers were shot.
The incident unfolded in the 2300 block of Blue Ridge Boulevard and continued through much of Wednesday.
Kansas City Police Department officers were executing a search warrant just after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. They knocked on the door of a residence and identified themselves, the Police Department said. Someone shot at the officers, who returned fire.
The injured officers were taken to the hospital by other officers at the scene.
Speaking Tuesday night outside University Health where the officers were being treated, police Chief Stacey Graves said their injuries were not life-threatening and that the officers were “alert,” awake and able to talk.
“That’s the best situation that, under these circumstances, that I can hope for,” Graves said.
The Independence Police Department and then the Highway Patrol took over the standoff, which was ongoing.
By 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, two people had left the home voluntarily. Police initially did not know if they were suspects, and weren’t able to say exactly when they left the location, according to Officer Jack Taylor, a spokesman for IPD.
Officials used a drone and robot to search the home but at the time were not sure if anyone else was inside, he said.
Around 4 p.m., SWAT teams with the Highway Patrol and the FBI entered and secured the house, said Sgt. Andy Bell, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol. A man was found dead, Bell said, and a woman was located. She was not injured and is in police custody.
Authorities were expected to be on scene for several more hours to process the area for evidence and interview the woman.
One of the people who left the home was charged with unrelated offenses, federal prosecutors said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. Jimmie R. Lewis Jr., 50, was charged with one count each of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
___
© 2023 The Kansas City Star
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
