A Mission police officer who shot a burglary suspect behind the Target at 6100 Broadmoor St. before dawn on March 15 acted lawfully and was justified in using deadly force, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced at a press conference Monday. The officer had responded to the store at 4:41 a.m. after spotting someone with duffel bags near the back of the building, then chased suspect William Henry Parker III, who fired multiple rounds at the officer before the officer returned fire.
Howe said the officer faced a genuine threat on his life and responded with deadly force accordingly, a conclusion detailed in the district attorney's office report and reported by the Kansas City Star. Investigators said body camera footage supported the officer's account that Parker fired first, and crime scene technicians recovered a 9 millimeter handgun, Parker's clothing and spent bullets at the scene. Parker suffered several gunshot wounds to his left leg and was transported to a local hospital, according to the Star's reporting.
Countywide Response Drew Nine Agencies
The scale of the response was immediate and sprawling. Emergency radio traffic recorded during the call showed a countywide “assist the officer” alert went out at 4:43 a.m., bringing in additional officers to back up the single responding Mission officer, according to the Johnson County Post. First aid was provided to Parker before he was taken to the hospital, the outlet reported.
Mission Police was the department involved in the response. Mission Police Chief Dan Madden praised the officer's courage, composure and professionalism, and said the officer returned to work about three weeks after the shooting.
DA Cites Kansas Self-Defense and Use-of-Force Statutes
Howe's justification finding leans on two specific sections of Kansas law. Under Kansas Statute § 21-5227, a law enforcement officer making a lawful arrest is not required to retreat and is legally justified in using any force reasonably believed necessary to effect the arrest or defend against bodily harm, according to the Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes. A companion provision, Kansas Statute § 21-5222, holds that a person is justified in using deadly force when they reasonably believe it necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves or someone else, and it explicitly removes any duty to retreat, the Star reported.
The shooting itself was investigated not by Mission police but by the Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigative Team, an independent multi-agency unit established in 2005 as OISIT and renamed OICIIT in 2023. The team now maintains 64 specially trained members averaging 19 years of law enforcement experience, according to Johnson County's government website, and participating officers are barred from investigating incidents involving their own home departments — a structure designed to avoid conflicts of interest whenever an officer uses deadly force.
Prosecutor Has Cleared Officers Before in Similar Cases
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe has relied on OICIIT findings in other recent deadly force reviews, including clearing officers in the June 2025 fatal shooting of Jose Enrique Cartagena-Chacon in Lenexa, according to reporting from Hays Post, and a December 2025 fatal shooting at the De Soto Panasonic plant. Hoodline has previously reported that the Chacon case sparked a lawsuit against Lenexa officers even after Howe's justification ruling, and the district attorney's office also recently secured a capital murder conviction in an unrelated Olathe case.
Parker Faces Charges If Convicted
While the review of the officer's conduct is now closed, the criminal case against Parker is still moving forward. He has been charged with attempted capital murder, interference with a law enforcement officer and burglary, and remains in custody ahead of a preliminary hearing scheduled for September 28. The attempted capital murder charge remains part of the pending case.
The Target store where the confrontation began is at 6100 Broadmoor Street. The store briefly closed for contractor repairs to its front doors following the burglary before reopening to shoppers.
