Authorities identify man shot, killed after exchanging gunfire with Independence officers

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (KCTV) - The agency in charge of investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting in Independence has now identified the man who was killed.

On Saturday, the Eastern Jackson County Police Involved Incident Team (PIIT) team said the suspect was 27-year-old Daniel J. Bonnet of Independence, Missouri.

Although an investigation is still underway, police stated that the incident started around 9:45 p.m. on Feb. 13 in the area of Sterling Avenue and East 23rd Street. An Independence police officer tried to pull a car over for a traffic violation but the driver refused to stop and kept going.

“It did go briefly through a neighborhood. They made an attempt to use stop sticks to stop the vehicle safely it was unsuccessful so it backtracked a little bit off of Sterling into a neighborhood it was right back off to 23rd street and then quickly to 435,” said Lee’s Summit Police Sergeant Chris Depue, who is the PIIT PIO for this case.

The man then drove west on 23rd Street and eventually ed under I-435.

Sergeant Depue said under the bridge, the man rear-ended and side-swiped a vehicle with a husband, wife, grandmother, and infant inside. The four had minor injuries and were taken to the hospital, but have since been released.

After the crash, the driver of the pursued vehicle got out of his car and ran north up the southbound highway off-ramp with law enforcement running after him.

The driver shot at the officer and the officer fired back, striking the man. He was pronounced dead on the scene.

“We are glad that the pursuit ended with a crash the way it did. Not serious injury there but obviously we have another tragic outcome,” said Sergeant Depue.

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The officer involved in the shooting incident was not injured and has been placed on routine istrative leave.

Sergeant Depue said there were temporary tags on the vehicle, but it is not known if that is why he was pulled over.

“It doesn’t appear to be a stolen vehicle so they are looking into other factors that may have persuaded that person to run from police,” said Sergeant Depue. He added, “Cause you never know, why did this person run? Was it just a temp tag or was it something more serious? And you don’t have real-time information as to why they are running. I’ve seen people run for really small things and really large things.”

The PIIT team is leading the investigation; it is comprised of from the Lee’s Summit, Blue Springs, Grandview, and Independence police departments. The PIIT team will conduct an investigation independent of the Independence Police Department and its findings will be turned over to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

“The case file will be transparent so people will see once the investigation is done, that information will be out there. As to why theoretically why that person ran, we can’t ask them. But it will be clear there and then people can make that determination themselves if the pursuit was justified and if it was worth it,” said Sergeant Depue.

He anticipates the investigation to take three to five weeks before sending it to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

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