FacebookKansas City (MO) Police Chief Rick Smith

While hundreds of educators were participating in a testing event in the Kansas City Convention Center, reports of an active shooter put the center on lockdown at around 5 p.m. on Thursday June 14. Within 30 minutes, the lockdown was lifted and two men were dead, shot by Kansas City police officers.

It’s not clear if it was Timothy Mosley, 33, or Robert White, 34, who had the gun, but one pulled a weapon on the other in a fight over a golf cart, or at least that’s what a witness saw. In the video of the incident, as-of-yet unnamed Kansas City Police officers opened fire killing White and Mosley in the plaza between the convention center and Marriott hotel.

Kansas City Police Department Capt. Lionel Colon said shortly after the shooting “two males were fighting over a golf cart and a gun,” and when police arrived they were “faced with a situation of lethal force.” The police fired on the men in around 11 seconds of their arrival the video seems to show and as was reported by the Kansas City Star.

Before the shooting of White and Mosley in Barney Allis Plaza, police shot and killed Ashley Simonetti, who witnesses said was disturbed, erratic and wielding a “decorative Japanese katana sword.”

The names of the officers involved in the three shootings have not been released.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. ‘You Could See Bullets Flying in the Air.’ Dramatic Video Tells Most of the Story, But Doesn’t Answer One Question

Kathy Lu@kathyluwho

ICYMI: this bystander video (no sound) shows how two men fighting, one with a gun, were shot to death by #KC police in broad daylight. Story by @MaxLondberg begs many questions. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article213287264.html …

11:56 AM – Jun 17, 2018

‘You could see bullets flying’: Video, witness depict downtown KC police shooting

A witness and a video of the downtown Kansas City police shooting on June 14 shows three officers arriving at Barney Allis Plaza, where two men were fighting. Police said one suspect was armed with a…

kansascity.com

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According to the Kansas City Star, Massachusetts resident Matthew Sinno was in his room on an upper floor of the Marriott and witnessed a fight between two men where one pistol-whipped the other. After the beating, Sinno told the paper, the man with the gun tucked the weapon in his waistband. But within a few moments, one was dragging the other off a golf cart and the fight erupted again with one kicking the other. More than 7 minutes after the fight first began, Sinno was quoted as saying, police arrived.

Ian Cummings✔@Ian__Cummings

KCPD Capt. Lionel Colon talking about the downtown police shooting.

7:26 PM – Jun 14, 2018

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Within seconds, as can be seen in the video and as Sinno witnessed according to local media, police run toward the men with guns drawn and, while the video has no sound, Sinno said police yelled “Hands up! Drop your weapon!”

Sinno told the Star, “You could see bullets flying …”

After the shooting, police retrieved a gun from “one of the deceased men,” it was reported. But which one?

2. There’s an Active ‘Two-Team’ Internal Police Investigation of the Shooting Underway

According to KSHB, cameras in the area of Barney Allis Plaza where the incident occurred “will help investigators piece together the timeline leading up to the fatal shooting.”

KSHB reported that per police policy, “two teams (are) working this case; the police incident team, who includes the prosecuting attorney, will lead the investigation into the shooting and the ‘notable event review panel’ will analyze the shooting and identify if any changes need to be made. If so, those recommendations will be presented to the chief of police.”

Kathy Lu@kathyluwho

6h

ICYMI: this bystander video (no sound) shows how two men fighting, one with a gun, were shot to death by #KC police in broad daylight. Story by @MaxLondberg begs many questions. http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article213287264.html …

Jeffrey W Bruce@jeffreywbruce

Am I the only person who thinks internal police investigations by the same PD employing the involved officers is a really stupid idea? Seems to me that it permits too many CYA issues of friendship, bias, corruption and avoidance of liability to creep into the process

2:14 PM – Jun 17, 2018

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There have been, as of this post, no reports that indicate which man had the gun and if there was only one gun, as reported police retrieved, meaning there was only one armed man, why was the other shot, people are asking.

3. White’s Family Wants Answers

Less than an hour before the shooting at the Barney Allis Plaza in downtown Kansas City, Ashley Simonetti was shot by police in an area called the Northland. In a hours-long scene descried by witnesses as bizarre, Simonetti broke into a house, stole a dress, described as a “bridesmaid’s dress” and sword and over hours, acted erratically and at one point was running half naked with the sword as police fired bean bag ammunition at her. Ultimately, the young women was shot by police.

Janna Fulkerson said the police “murdered” her daughter.

“This is the Fulkerson Family taken at Church of Christ 22 years ago. Matha, Robert, Janna & Ashley Fulkerson! I have a very small family and we loved our little Ashley so much. The KCPD MURDERED my only daughter. They had Guns she had a sword but I know they were never in fear of there life and they should have to pay for just killing whoever they feel like killing at the time. My daughter probably weighed about 90 pounds, they could of shot her in the leg or anything but this! I am totally devastated…I will never get to hug her or tell her I love her or anything ever again!”

The Kansas City Star reported that “For hours, police tried to reason with her and used a robot, tear gas — none of which worked,” the paper wrote. A witness to the entire hours-long incident said a police negotiator tried to talk to her. By this time, she was inside a garage.

“They kept saying, ‘Hey, come out. That garage has to be hot. Come on out and just drop the weapon. Just come out. We want to talk with you.’”

Police used a battering ram to get into the garage but “Simonetti sneaked under the bashed garage door and took off running.”

The witness said, “They opened fire on her and dropped her there.”

The police chief said KCPD officers have a “difficult job every day.” On Thursday June 14, “they were confronted with 2 choices …and the officers did what they thought was necessary.”