KANSAS CITY, KANSAS – The Kansas City Kansas Police Department received a dispatch call about a Black man who was reported as “looking into the sky” in the street at 57th and Tauromee in the city’s Coronado neighborhood.
Police say the incident occurred at about 2:30 p.m. after someone called the police about a man in the middle of the road who was looking at the sky, KCKPD spokeswoman Officer Marshee London said.
Although a police PR statement alleges the man was hindering traffic, no eyewitnesses have confirmed this claim.
The man murdered has been identified as Lionel Womack, a 35 year old Black man. Arthur Hayes said Womack was his daughter’s ex-husband.
“He was a good guy, good guy. So I don’t understand none of this,” said Hayes.
The police PR statement claims Womack “struggled” after an officer’s weapon, but no eyewitnesses have confirmed this claim.
Because the phrase “a struggle ensued” is used in nearly every single situation where police murder unarmed Black people, the KC Defender Staff believes the police report to be a lie and we will not include it in our reporting unless confirmed by at least one eyewitness who is not a police officer.
This is a developing story.
