Highway patrol identifies man fatally shot by Kansas City police near 55th and Prospect

The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the man police shot and killed Sunday night outside a gas station on Kansas City’s East Side.

Zachary James Garrard, 31, was the man police shot and killed near 55th and Prospect Avenue, the highway patrol tweeted Tuesday. The highway patrol is investigating the shooting, which was the third fatal shooting involving Kansas City police this year.

Kansas City police found a stolen SUV in the parking lot of Phillips 66 on Prospect Avenue, Sgt. Bill Lowe, a spokesman with the highway patrol said.

Officers checked the car while the person who had been inside the vehicle was in the gas station store. Both officers were in uniform and standing outside the SUV when Garrard left the store and got into the van, Lowe said.

Garrard allegedly got into the vehicle, backed up, turned around and sped toward one of the officers, Lowe said.

The officer dove away and the SUV struck the Kansas City Police Department van, Lowe said.

At that point, police started firing.

Garrard was pronounced dead at the hospital, Lowe said.

The highway patrol is reviewing body camera footage from the officers and security footage from the gas station. Authorities are also interviewing witnesses, including children who were present at the time of the shooting, Lowe said.

No information has been made available on how many officers fired their weapons or how many shots were fired.

A 17-year-old who arrived at the gas station moments before the shooting said he heard about 15 or 16 gunshots and saw around seven or eight officers open fire.

“He hit the police van and after he hit the police van, kept going toward the officers,” the teen said. “And all the officers just started shooting at him, and then they killed him.”