Thursday afternoon's press conference at the Johnson County Courthouse brought news the family of Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon didn't want to hear.
"I have found the officer's use of force was justified under Kansas Law," said Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe.
Cartagena-Chacon, 25, was killed in an apartment complex parking lot near 97th Street and Monrovia by a Lenexa police officer on June 22, 2025.
The Lenexa Police Department was dispatched following a report of a man aiming a gun at people in the apartment complex pool.
Police arrived with their weapons drawn, searching for witnesses, victims, and suspects. Two officers approached a vehicle and one officer located what appeared to be a firearm. It was later determined by prosecutors to be a CO2-powered pellet gun.
An officer approached the driver's side window, asking to see the man's hands, and located a black handgun. After shouting with profanities, he asked to see the gun and see his hands. Cartagena-Chacon picks up the gun and begins to move it toward the passenger seat. The officer standing behind Cartagena-Chacon on the driver's side fired eight shots, ultimately killing him.
"We are seeking justice for the fact the way things were done," said Alberto Bernardino, Cartagena-Chacon's brother-in-law. "The whole family is devastated. There is no reason — he should still be with us."
KSHB 41 met with Cartagena-Chacon's family and their legal counsel outside the Johnson County Courthouse following Thursday's press conference.
The family's attorneys criticized the county's decision not to press charges.
"He (District Attorney) bent over backward to give every reason why these officers shouldn’t be held accountable. Every reason," said Attorney Quinn Rallins. "With no fact that even suggested they acted improperly. We know a 12-person jury is going to look very different in this situation."
Rallins announced the family intends to file multiple lawsuits by the end of the year.
"Without a doubt, we’re going to file a suit, make no mistake about it, his civil rights and constitutional rights were violated. It was excessive force," he said. "We’re gonna sue all the officers that we believe are involved, we may sue the City."
Civil rights attorney and executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, Lauren Bonds, reviewed the body camera footage with KSHB 41 News Reporter Ryan Gamboa.
Bonds, based out of its Kansas City office, told Gamboa she was concerned with how officers entered the situation — not identifying themselves, using loud profane language, and most importantly, the decision to fire as Cartagena-Chacon held the weapon.
"He’s just kind of lifting it up, like this gun? It really seemed like he was confused about what was going on. He definitely wasn’t pointing it in a way that was threatening," she examined.
Lenexa Police Chief Dawn Layman disagrees, saying Cartagena-Chacon was threatening toward her officers.
"Our officers do not have to be fired upon before they use deadly force," Layman said.
Bonds told KSHB 41 that she acknowledged the heightened situation that the officers were sent to. Without knowing where the suspect was on the property, it was unclear who they might come in contact with and if they might be dangerous.
"Officers should be trained to know that people have the right to have firearms. We have the Second Amendment in this country. It shouldn’t automatically become a threatening situation if you come upon a person with a firearm," Bonds explained. "I don’t think a reasonable officer would look at that [body camera footage] and say, that person’s pointing a gun at me. They might say a person is grabbing a gun, holding a gun, doing all these different things that you might want to de-escalate a situation or move yourself from a place that you could be shot at."
Chief Layman told members of the media on Thursday to review the June 22 incident, which took 26 minutes for a 10-second incident.
"So, imagine making those decisions in a 10-second window," she said.
The Cartagena-Chacon family attorneys didn't buy that.
"I didn’t think it was illegal to sit in your car," said Thomas Bowers, the family's co-counsel. "Even though you gotta make a split-second decision, you gotta make the right decision. That’s the job you chose... This shooting was not justified."
The county told media members that it is denying criminal charges based on reviewing Kansas law and United States Supreme Court Cases that protect the officer's decision.
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KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
