KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The investigation into a Kansas City, Kansas, police shooting that left a DoorDash driver dead is now in the hands of prosecutors, according to police.
The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department handled the investigation into the April 26 shooting where Amaree’ya Henderson was killed in Kansas City, Kansas.
Investigators said it’s now up to the Wyandotte County District Attorney to decide if the KCK police officer who fired the deadly shots should face charges.
District Attorney Mark Dupree said he won’t release any further information until he’s finished reviewing the case.
The KCK Police Department will also decide whether to release dash camera and body camera video of the shooting.
An attorney for Henderson’s family said Kansas law gives the victim’s family the right to watch the video. So far, that request has not been granted.
“The family has requested to view the body cam and dash cam footage. That request has not been honored by police or the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office,” attorney Kay Harper Williams said.
“Mother’s Day approaches and instead of being celebrated by her loving son, Paulette Johnson must bury him.”
Wednesday afternoon, KCK Police Chief Karl Oakman said they are working with the family to review the footage.
A group called “Justice for Wyandotte” organized a protest last week. The group demanded police release the footage of the shooting.
Henderson’s mother said the department won’t even tell her exactly why the officer stopped her son. Johnson said she received a Facetime from Henderson right after the officer stopped him. He and his girlfriend had just made a DoorDash delivery.
“Our chief concern is that an unarmed 25-year-old Black man was shot and killed by a cop for an alleged traffic stop,” Harper Williams said.
Henderson allegedly asked his mom to come to help him. As she drove to the area, Henderson’s mom said she heard the deadly shots through the Facetime call.
“We want transparency. If in fact it happened the way they say it happened, then there should be no issue whatsoever with releasing the footage so that we all can be clear,” Nuru Witherspoon, Johnson’s attorney, said.
“But as we sit here two weeks from the incident the footage still has not been released.”
The KCK police officer was also injured during the stop. He went to the hospital for treatment.