KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has asked a court to name a special prosecutor from the St. Louis area to investigate a March 2021 incident in which Kansas City, Missouri, police shot and killed Malcolm Johnson.
In a motion filed this week, Peters Baker said her office is concerned about the possibility of bias in reviewing the case, citing its previous investigations of Johnson. Those prior investigations of Johnson included charges connected to a deadly 2014 shooting.
Johnson's killing drew the attention of a group of Kansas City clergy, who released surveillance and cellphone video from inside the convenience store in which police tried to arrest Johnson.
Police had identified him as a suspect in a non-fatal shooting when they approached him in the store. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Johnson shot an officer during an altercation while he was being arrested.
The videos of the shooting released by the clergy raised questions about police's version of events, and the leader of the group called Johnson's death "an execution."
Earlier this summer, the MSHP investigators said they had completed their report and forwarded it to the local prosecutor's office for any potential criminal charges against the officers involved.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
