Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department named in new lawsuit involving shooting outside bus stop

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The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is facing a new wrongful death lawsuit involving a man who was fatally shot by police at a bus stop in 2025 after allegedly pointing a gun at passing traffic.

The attorney for that man's family calls it an "execution."

On July 24, 2025, police were called to the area of Emanuel Cleaver Boulevard and The Paseo Boulevard on a report of a man pointing a gun at passing traffic.

When they arrived, they found 64-year-old Ronald Aubrey sitting at the bus stop.

"Officers began giving the individual commands to take him into custody," a Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesperson said at the time. "The suspect did not comply with officer commands."

Witness Robert Russell, who would later call 911, described what happened next.

Jack McCormick

"Something triggered him with the ambulance, with the lights and sirens," Russell said. "He held that gun on them all the way through the intersection."

Russell said he also witnessed what happened when police arrived. He claimed Aubrey ran away, pointing his gun back at two KCPD officers.

"When he tried to run, he was looking back with his gun in his hand," Russell said. "Police did what they had to do."

But, John Picerno, the Kansas City attorney who's representing Aubrey's family, says there's video that contradicts that account.

"No lawyer’s going to file a lawsuit if they feel that the person shot by police is actively pointing a gun at law enforcement, that’s just not going to happen!" Picerno said. "Fortunately, in this case, this entire incident was caught on two different police car dash cams and on three of the officers' body cams. He starts running away from the officers... he never once stopped. He never once pointed a gun at the officers."

Picerno says an autopsy showed Aubrey was shot in the back. He also theorizes that Aubrey only pulled the weapon, later described in the lawsuit as a toy gun, out as he was running away.

As for claims that he was armed, Picerno says at one point in the video, Aubrey appears to tell officers he has a gun, pointing to his waistband, before attempting to run.

"And I suspect he took it out because he couldn’t run with it in his pocket," Picerno theorizes.

While KCPD declined to comment due to the pending litigation, a common practice for police departments, the lawsuit does point to the testimony previously given by responding officers, claiming, "Aubrey ran around the bus stop... (and) was wrapping around the bus stop enclosure to come toward (the officer)" adding that officer was "in fear for his and his fellow officers’ safety."

It's something the lawsuit disputes.

"The whole thing is just a simple tragedy. It could’ve been avoided," Picerno said. "The main thing for our perspective is that he never placed anyone in imminent danger of serious physical injury or death."

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