By Andrea Klick and Anna Spoerre
Source The Kansas City Star
A police officer and another person were shot Saturday in Excelsior Springs, police said.
The shooting, which involved an Excelsior Springs police officer, happened near Crown Hill and Kearney roads, Sarah Boyd, a spokeswoman with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, said in an email just before 7 p.m.
“The officer and suspect are both suffering from gunshot wounds and were transported an area hospital,” Boyd wrote.
At about 5 p.m., officers with the Excelsior Springs Police Department came in contact with a man who had a warrant out for out for his arrest for assaulting a law enforcement officer, Boyd told The Star. She did not immediately have additional information regarding the warrant.
Officers first approached the man in the Price Chopper parking lot, off Crown Hill Road. He drove away from officers, Boyd said; two police vehicles proceeded to box him in at a nearby stop light, with one police vehicle in front and one police vehicle behind him.
The man then shot from inside his truck at the officer in front of him, Boyd said. The officer was shot in the shoulder and the hand.
The officer behind the suspect vehicle then shot at the man, striking him in the head, Boyd said.
Both gunshot victims were taken to the hospital, Boyd said. The officer is believed to have injuries that are not life-threatening. The other person is believed to have injuries that are life-threatening.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting. The identities of those involved have not yet been made public.
As police lights continued lighting up the scene hours after the shooting, Ava Donegan, 17, and William Dreier, 16, stood at an intersection nearby, waiting on a ride. The vehicle they had been in was still stuck behind police tape.
After spending the day thrift shopping, Donegan said she and Dreier were driving back to Kansas City when police lights caught their attention.
First, William saw a police car pull in front of a truck. Then, as they sat in Donegan’s Kia, they heard gunshots.
Donegan ducked and William called 9-1-1, they told The Star.
William said he initially heard between five and seven gunshots. Then he said the officer who was shot seemed to fall down as he made his way toward the Kia they were in.
The injured officer, William and Donegan said, asked Donegan to put a tourniquet on his arm. She followed his instructions.
“Both of the cops were pretty shaken,” William said. “I think everyone was shaken in this situation … It was quick but very tense.”
Paige Loveall, a cashier at the Price Chopper, said someone told her multiple police cars were monitoring a white truck in the parking lot as she was getting off her break.
When she came back to the store’s deli, Loveall, 26, said she saw smoke and the truck and police cars had left the parking lot. Someone told her it was from a gunshot, and she, along with other people in the parking lot, crouched down. She couldn’t make out how many shots there were.
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