KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Three people are in custody after shots were fired at a Kansas City, Missouri, police vehicle Thursday night.
The initial incident happened shortly before 9:40 p.m. near Meyer and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, where one or more individuals fired shots at a KCPD officer and stuck his vehicle.
"He's a young officer, doesn't have a lot of time on," KCPD spokesman Ofc. Darin Snapp said. "He did an awesome job in this deal. Thankfully, he's not injured for one, but he did a great job letting officers know where he was at and where he needed help."
It started as an attempted stop for traffic violations after an officer spotted a car parked in a vacant and overgrown lot with no lights on, but the vehicle took off as the officer prepared to exit his patrol vehicle.
During a short pursuit, shots were fired at the officer's vehicle in the area of 66th Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Kr. Boulevard then again neat 65th Street and Woodland Avenue, according to a KCPD spokesman.
"We know there's at least one bullet hole in the rear door and there's a flat tire on it as well, so we believe it was (shot) at least once," Snapp said.
The officer, who was the patrol car's sole occupant, radioed for help as the suspect vehicle weaved in and out of neighborhoods and traffic before leading police on a high-speed chase along northbound U.S. 71.
More officers joined the pursuit and used a pit maneuver to bring the car to a stop around 9:45 p.m. at Locust Avenue near Truman Road. Police took three people into custody without further incident.
"The pit maneuver actually worked really well," Snapp said. "Once the vehicle stopped, the three suspects surrendered and we found one rifle and one handgun in the car so far."
The aftermath at Locust and Truman of a police chase.
— Cat Reid (@catreidtv) August 9, 2019
It started at 66th and Woodland with reports of a suspect firing shots at a @kcpolice officer’s car. Three people in custody @41actionnews pic.twitter.com/D2XOokebZA
A KCPD spokesman said there were no injuries.
"We're up against the unknown every night when we approach a vehicle," Snapp said. "We don't know what's going to happen and, thankfully, in this incident no one was injured, even during the chase."
Police are investigating if the shooting suspects are involved in any other crimes.
"This is the worst of the worst," Snapp said. "If they're going to shoot at police officers, you know they're going to shoot at whoever comes in there. ... No telling why they're shooting at officers. That's what we're going to try to get down to. Who knows what they've been up to? They might be wanted for murders; they might be wanted for robberies."
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Bakerlater announced that 25-year-old Darryl Nichols, 18-year-old Michael Fleming and 18-year-old Ruhwan Johnson were charged in the incident.
Each received one count of felony assault on a law enforcement officer, one count of unlawful use of a weapon, tow counts of armed criminal action and one count of resisting a lawful stop.
