New video shows struggle, fatal police shooting of Malcolm Johnson in Kansas City
New video obtained by The Star shows more of the events surrounding the March 25 fatal police shooting of Malcolm Johnson inside a Kansas City gas station.
In the minute-long video, five police officers can be seen struggling with Johnson, 31, before others arrive at the gas station convenience store in the 6200 block of South Prospect Avenue.
The encounter caused items to fall off of nearby shelves as two men, who appeared to be store employees, talked about what they were witnessing. Police have said officers were there to arrest Johnson in connection to a previous shooting.
“Oh, is that our normal customer?” one asks the other, later calling him family. “They have a gun.”
One the men said an officer was “about to take out her strap.” Three gunshots could then be heard. It is unclear from the video, however, who fired the shots.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the shooting, has said Johnson drew a handgun and opened fire at officers. A bullet struck the leg of one of the officers, who immediately returned gunfire, killing Johnson, the patrol said.
On Tuesday, a group of faith leaders in Kansas City released separate video footage of incident, though it did not show the shooting. They said that footage showed an “execution” and contradicted the timeline and description of the events given by the patrol.
One of the pastors, the Rev. Emanuel Cleaver III, said all officers should be fired and criminally charged.
In response to the pastors’ concerns, the patrol defended its ongoing investigation.
In the video obtained Thursday by The Star, one of the store employees after the shooting can be heard saying, “They killed him; they killed him.”
“Hey, this is bad,” the other responds.
One of them said the man was “not doing nothing.” But then he says, “Oh, he shot the police.”
“He did?” the other asks.
“Yeah.”
After the shooting Johnson was taken to Research Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
The shooting Johnson was being arrested in occurred March 15 in the 9700 block of East 43rd Street, according to police. A bullet grazed the foot of a man at a home there, police said.
In 2016, Johnson was mistakenly released from the Jackson County Detention Center while facing charges in a murder case. The next year, he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.
The Rev. Darron Edwards, of United Believers Community Church, said Thursday pastors believe in police and want every Kansas City ZIP code to be safe. But, he said, they don’t believe in “policing like this.”
Edwards renewed calls for the removal of Police Chief Rick Smith, who has said he has no plans to step down. He also called for the passing of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act.
“There’s too much hurt from the bottom up and we need help from the top down,” he said.
