KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City police officer was shot in the leg while trying to make an arrest before he returned fire, killing the suspect, authorities said.
Police reported the shootout happened around 6 p.m. Thursday inside a gas station on the south end of the city. The Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the shooting, said two uniformed Kansas City police officers spotted a man inside the business whom they believed was wanted on suspicion of assault in an unrelated case.
As the officers attempted to arrest the man, a fight ensued, the patrol said, and the man pulled a gun and shot one officer in the leg. The officer returned fire, killing the suspect, the patrol said.
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The man shot by the officer was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. The injured officer was treated and listed in stable condition, the patrol said.
The names of the man killed and the officer injured were not immediately released.
The man’s death marked the 40th homicide in Kansas City this year, according to data kept by the Kansas City Star. Kansas City recorded 182 homicides in all of 2020, the most in the city’s history in a single year.