In video, it looks like Malcolm Johnson was on the ground when KC police shot him
Video of the fatal Kansas City police shooting of 31-year-old Malcolm Johnson in March does not appear to match up with what the Missouri Highway Patrol has said happened.
Johnson was shot and killed inside a gas station convenience store at 63rd Street and Prospect Avenue. The Highway Patrol said that when police approached Johnson to arrest him, he resisted. During the struggle that followed, “at some point, the suspect retrieved his handgun and fired,” wounding an officer in the leg, Sgt. Andy Bell said hours after the shooting. That officer returned fire, he said, fatally shooting Johnson.
But on Tuesday, local pastors and an activist speaking on behalf of the Johnson family called Johnson’s killing the “execution” of another Black man by police. Photos of Johnson’s body seem to show that he was shot twice in the head.
In a video shared by these pastors, who have been working to lessen tensions with the KCPD, not much is visible other than the backs of officers, a seconds-long scuffle and then Johnson’s feet, facing down and kicking, as he’s on the ground.
After briefly trying to bolt, Johnson is chest down on the floor with police holding him down throughout the video. It’s hard to see how he could have shot anyone from that position, and his family believes that the bullet that struck the officer must have been fired by police and then ricocheted.
Maybe additional footage would tell a completely different story, but here’s what’s missing: First, transparency. If there’s more to the story, now would be a good time to see the evidence of that.
Next, the body cam footage that doesn’t exist. All officers weren’t outfitted with cameras until nearly a month after Johnson was killed.
We’re also missing an independent police review board, with subpoena power and a full-time staff to root out the truth of police shootings.
And finally, we’re missing trust.
Pastors called for the four KCPD officers involved in the shooting to be fired and said they are ready to take evidence supporting their claim that police shot and killed Johnson after he was down and restrained to the U.S. Department of Justice if action is not taken by law enforcement.
The Missouri Highway Patrol has been the lead investigative agency for police shootings in Kansas City since June 2020. Before that, KCPD investigated its own officers.
Kansas City police declined to comment on the video, saying the highway patrol is investigating. And the highway patrol isn’t saying much, either, because “the investigation is ongoing,” said Sgt. Bill Lowe. Investigators are “doing due diligence,” he said. “We want to be transparent, but we don’t try cases to the public.”
What the family and the clergy want now, said the Rev. Emanuel Cleaver III, senior pastor of St. James United Methodist Church, is “to ensure that justice takes place as best that can happen with the loss of life. We are making those demands and will not stop and we’ll gather the community together peacefully, to do whatever we can to make sure that justice happens on behalf of Malcolm Johnson.”
He said what Kansas Citians, this editorial board included, and people across the country have been saying since George Floyd’s murder a year ago: “Reform is needed greatly. Right now.”
“What I saw was an execution,” said the Rev. Darron Edwards, a leader with Getting to the Heart of the Matter, a group of local faith leaders who have been cooperating with the KCPD to improve police and community relations.
The KCPD has “not told the truth” about this shooting in a private meeting, said Edwards, lead pastor at United Believers Community Church. “I think they are just so used to bending the truth.” He declined to be more specific.
The year before Johnson was killed, a police officer shot and killed Donnie Sanders. Police initially said the 47-year-old man raised his arm “in a motion towards the officer as though he had a weapon.” But the next day, police said he had been unarmed.
If there is another truth to be told about Malcolm Johnson’s shooting, we need to hear it. Right now.
