A Mission Police Department officer won’t face charges for shooting and injuring a man who allegedly shot at him during a burglary at Target in March.
On Monday, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced that his office’s investigation determined the officer was justified in their actions after shooting and striking William H. Parker III, of Kansas City, Missouri, while pursuing him after a reported burglary at the Target store in Mission on March 15.
Describing it as a “clear-cut case,” Howe said when the officer arrived at the scene, he was allegedly shot at by Parker at least four times and returned fire, striking and injuring Parker.
“It’s a very clear-cut case where an officer doing his job in the line of duty was faced with a threat on his life and used deadly force in response to that,” he said.
Parker survived his injuries and is charged in Johnson County District Court with attempted capital murder, interference with law enforcement and burglary.
The officer, who was not named in Howe’s report, is an eight-and-a-half-year veteran of the Mission Police Department. This was the first incident where he has used deadly force, Mission Police Chief Dan Madden said at the press conference.
The shooting happened in March
In the early morning hours of March 15, a security guard at the Mission Target, 6100 Broadmoor St., contacted police to report that a suspect, later identified as Parker, had broken through the glass doors at the store’s northern front entrance and gone inside the building, according to the affidavit.
Parker is accused of stealing about “two duffel bags full of merchandise” including electronics, a criminal affidavit states.
Officers from the Mission Police Department responded and established a perimeter around the building, according to a news release from the department on the day of the incident.
A Mission Police sergeant spotted Parker near the store and ordered him to stop “with numerous verbal commands,” according to the affidavit.
Parker fled toward Rock Creek Trail to the east, behind the Target store. Once on the trail, the officer saw what he described as “bright sparkler” lights coming directly toward him, which he determined to be muzzle flashes with bullets directed at him.
With Parker about 20 yards away, the officer returned fire, striking Parker several times in his left leg, according to the district attorney’s office’s report.
The officer took cover behind a tree and reloaded his gun, while Parker crawled out of view and was later arrested.
Howe showed police body camera footage of the pursuit and shooting during the press conference, noting that it was missing most of its audio because the body camera didn’t activate, but the video was able to be recovered from the camera’s memory.
“Even though the body camera wasn’t activated, we can go back and view the video, even if it wasn’t reported for a period of time … but that only includes video when you when you do it that way,” Madden said.
A Smith & Wesson handgun, which was allegedly used by Parker, as well as shell casings of bullets from both guns, were recovered at the scene, Howe said.
Officer was not injured, but placed on leave
After the shooting, the officer was placed on a three-week leave while an internal investigation by the Mission Police Department was conducted.
“Any time deadly force is used, we do an internal affairs investigation essentially to make sure that the officer’s actions were consistent with our policies,” Madden said.
In addition, the shooting was also investigated by the Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigative Team, who presented their findings to Howe, which allowed him to make the decision to not charge the officer.
Because Parker’s case is pending in Johnson County District Court, Howe said he was limited in what he could comment about the shooting but wanted to address it for the sake of transparency.
“I do think it’s extremely important for us to at least be transparent about what happened on that day so the individuals that live in our community have faith in our law enforcement officers and our criminal justice system,” he said.
What’s next
Parker is currently being held in the Johnson County Jail. He’s scheduled for a preliminary hearing in court at 9 a.m. on Sept. 28.
Go deeper: Affidavit details Mission Target burglary and police shooting that followed
