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On Friday, police officers in Kansas City, Missouri, repeatedly shot a woman in a store parking lot even after she told them she couldn’t get on the ground because she was pregnant. A witness who spoke with the Kansas City Star said the woman, 26-year-old Leonna Hale, had her hands up moments before the officers fired their weapons.

Hale had been sitting in a car outside a Family Dollar store when officers ordered her to get out, according to the witness, a mother named Shé Danja who had gone to the store with her children to get gas and ice cream. The officers suspected that Hale and a man inside the vehicle might have been involved in a carjacking in a neighboring city, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The man exited the vehicle, jumped a fence, and ran as officers chased him, according to Shé Danja. She watched Hale, who is Black, step out of the car with her hands raised in the air. When officers ordered Hale to get on the ground, Hale told them she couldn’t because she was pregnant, according to Shé Danja. Hale added that there was a gun in the car, and began inching backward as officers approached her with their weapons drawn. She then ran three steps away from the officers, who responded by shooting her five times, according to Shé Danja. (Sgt. Andrew Bell of the Highway Patrol told me that a medical examination would need to be conducted to determine how many times Hale was shot.) Hale seemed “scared at them all coming towards her with guns in her face,” Shé Danja later wrote on Facebook.

It’s unclear whether Hale was armed. The Highway Patrol’s Bell told local reporters on Friday that a “suspect” handgun was discovered in the parking lot after the shooting, but he did not specify then whether Hale herself had a weapon. Bell told me on Tuesday that Hale did have a gun in her hand when she was shot. “We know for a fact that she was armed,” he said.

It’s worth adding that there have been many incidents around the country of the police lying or providing misleading information to the public after they shoot or injure people, though it’s not clear they did so in Hale’s case. (Not too long ago, a prosecutor accused Kansas City cops of falsely claiming that Cameron Lamb, a 26-year-old Black man, was armed when they fatally shot him in 2019.) The witness, Shé Danja, said Hale was not holding a gun. “She did not pull out a weapon on them,” Shé Danja told the Star. “She did not even have a stick in her hand.”

Video footage filmed by Shé Danja appears to show Hale lying on the ground after the shooting with blood on her shirt as an officer handcuffed her. When Shé Danja repeatedly asked the officers why they fired their weapons, they did not answer. More than a few minutes went by before Hale was offered any assistance, Shé Danja said. The Highway Patrol’s Bell could not confirm or deny that allegation, but said the agency would know more after evaluating body camera footage. “We will have a lot more detail in the coming days, weeks,” he said, adding that footage of police shootings aren’t normally released to the public during an investigation, but that the prosecutor’s office could release it later.

@crime and Justice Kansas 2022.©

Christmasdon:
Facts matter: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Support our nonprofit reporting. Subscribe to our print magazine.
On Friday, police officers in Kansas City, Missouri, repeatedly shot a woman in a store parking lot even after she told them she couldn’t get on the ground because she was pregnant. A witness who spoke with the Kansas City Star said the woman, 26-year-old Leonna Hale, had her hands up moments before the officers fired their weapons.

Hale had been sitting in a car outside a Family Dollar store when officers ordered her to get out, according to the witness, a mother named Shé Danja who had gone to the store with her children to get gas and ice cream. The officers suspected that Hale and a man inside the vehicle might have been involved in a carjacking in a neighboring city, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
The man exited the vehicle, jumped a fence, and ran as officers chased him, according to Shé Danja. She watched Hale, who is Black, step out of the car with her hands raised in the air. When officers ordered Hale to get on the ground, Hale told them she couldn’t because she was pregnant, according to Shé Danja. Hale added that there was a gun in the car, and began inching backward as officers approached her with their weapons drawn. She then ran three steps away from the officers, who responded by shooting her five times, according to Shé Danja. (Sgt. Andrew Bell of the Highway Patrol told me that a medical examination would need to be conducted to determine how many times Hale was shot.) Hale seemed “scared at them all coming towards her with guns in her face,” Shé Danja later wrote on Facebook.

It’s unclear whether Hale was armed. The Highway Patrol’s Bell told local reporters on Friday that a “suspect” handgun was discovered in the parking lot after the shooting, but he did not specify then whether Hale herself had a weapon. Bell told me on Tuesday that Hale did have a gun in her hand when she was shot. “We know for a fact that she was armed,” he said.

It’s worth adding that there have been many incidents around the country of the police lying or providing misleading information to the public after they shoot or injure people, though it’s not clear they did so in Hale’s case. (Not too long ago, a prosecutor accused Kansas City cops of falsely claiming that Cameron Lamb, a 26-year-old Black man, was armed when they fatally shot him in 2019.) The witness, Shé Danja, said Hale was not holding a gun. “She did not pull out a weapon on them,” Shé Danja told the Star. “She did not even have a stick in her hand.”

Video footage filmed by Shé Danja appears to show Hale lying on the ground after the shooting with blood on her shirt as an officer handcuffed her. When Shé Danja repeatedly asked the officers why they fired their weapons, they did not answer. More than a few minutes went by before Hale was offered any assistance, Shé Danja said. The Highway Patrol’s Bell could not confirm or deny that allegation, but said the agency would know more after evaluating body camera footage. “We will have a lot more detail in the coming days, weeks,” he said, adding that footage of police shootings aren’t normally released to the public during an investigation, but that the prosecutor’s office could release it later.

@crime and Justice Kansas 2022.©

if they were more than 3 witnesses, and any was armed they would have arrested cops , its called a citizens arrest , thats why the second amendment of the United States of America exists , this is why some fools are in support of the ban on guns , so innocent citizens have no defence when their life or that of their family is in danger