UPDATE: The man killed in this police shooting has been identified as 34-year-old D’Metrius Robinson.
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GLADSTONE, Mo. — A suspect is dead and a Gladstone officer is hurt after a police shooting Friday morning.
It started after officers tried to stop suspects who were attempting to break into vehicles, according to investigators.
Gladstone police said officers and Clay County sheriff’s deputies responded to Englewood Vista Apartment Homes at N. Main and NW Englewood Road just before 3:30 a.m.
When officers attempted to arrest three people, one ran and got away, one was detained, and a third tried to drive away.
That person, only identified as a 34-year-old man, got into a struggle with an officer in the vehicle.
Gladstone police said the suspect dragged the officer with the car toward an apartment gate, and the officer shot the man.
The suspect was treated at the scene and then taken to a hospital where they died, according to investigators. The officer involved was treated on scene for minor injuries.
Police later determined the person who was detained at the scene was not connected with the incident but was still arrested on unrelated charges.
The Northland Officer Involved Shooting Team has taken over the investigation, centered in the parking lot of the complex.
At midday Friday, an SUV and a Dodge Challenger were towed away from the scene.
There, Chris Wright stood by his restored 1968 Chevy C10 with its left side crunched by the impact. The suspect who was shot crashed into his truck as he tried to flee.
“They were breaking into people’s cars. It’s been going on for a little while. And then somehow police found out, and the guys did their thing and tried running away,” Wright said. “And a cop got dragged, and this is the outcome. He wrecks into my truck.”
“He hit is so hard that he spun the truck around facing this way,” Wright added.
