KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A witness said a woman had her hands up moments before she was shot multiple times by Kansas City police officers Friday night in a store parking lot.
Shédanja, who declined to provide her last name, said the woman was trying to run from officers when they fired at her.
The woman suffered serious injuries.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Friday that police were attempting to arrest a man and woman in connection with a suspected carjacking. A vehicle matching the description of a stolen vehicle was located at the Family Dollar at East 6th Street and Prospect Avenue.
Shédanja, 29, said she went to the store with her three children to get gasoline and ice cream.
She heard officers start yelling, “Get out the car,” to two people who were in the vehicle next to hers. A man exited, jumped a fence and ran. Three officers chased after him, she said.
The woman exited the car with her hands up, Shédanja said. Officers told the woman to get on the ground, but the woman told them she was pregnant, Shédanja said, and couldn’t get down on the ground.
Police asked her to get down multiple times. The woman then told police there was a gun in the vehicle. The woman started backing toward a fence in the parking lot. Several officers approached her and had their weapons drawn, Shédanja said.
“She did not pull out a weapon on them,” she said. “She did not even have a stick in her hand.”
The woman ran three steps away from officers, Shédanja said, and police shot five times.
“One, two, three, four, five. I remember it because it didn’t stop. They shot five times,” Shédanja said during a phone interview Saturday with The Star. “I remember seeing her hit the ground and I froze.”
Shédanja asked police several times why they shot the woman, but officers did not answer.
She started recording the scene. In the video she shared with The Star, the woman is seen lying on the ground with blood on her shirt. An officer appears to put her in handcuffs.
Several more officers arrive.
An officer approaches Shédanja and tells her to get back. She replies saying one of her sons is inside the store.
Shédanja said she and her children were traumatized from witnessing the shooting and that she wants police to receive better training.
The woman was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. Highway patrol spokesman Sgt. Andrew Bell said Friday she was in stable condition.
State troopers are leading the investigation of the police shooting.
Bell said a handgun was found near the area where the woman was shot. But he declined to comment further.
He did not respond to an email Saturday seeking comments on the witness’ account and an update on the woman’s condition.
Interim Police Chief Joseph Mabin arrived at the shooting scene and said the department would be fully transparent with the highway patrol as the shooting investigation was conducted.
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