Kansas City shooting spree suspect believed found dead in basement of burned home
A man wanted in a Kansas City-area shooting spree that killed one person and injured four others is believed to have been found dead in the basement of a burned home that police had searched a week earlier, officials and local media reported.
Police said the body was found Wednesday afternoon at a house in Independence, Missouri, east of Kansas City, where officers had been looking for 22-year-old Oscar Sanchez-Munoz after the June 16 shootings.
Sanchez-Munoz was accused of shooting at five vehicles along Interstate 70 and nearby roads in Kansas City, Missouri, killing one person and wounding four others. Police had also identified him as the suspect in an earlier shooting on June 11 in Wyandotte County, Kansas, where a vehicle occupied by an adult and a child was struck by gunfire.
The search for Sanchez-Munoz led police to the Independence home on the night of June 16, when authorities said he barricaded himself inside during a standoff. The house later caught fire, and officers searched the burned residence after firefighters put out the flames, but said they did not find him.
A weeklong manhunt followed, with the FBI offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to his arrest.
Relatives of Sanchez-Munoz were going through the damaged home Wednesday when they noticed the smell of decomposition in the basement and moved items aside, revealing what appeared to be a body, according to polcie. Responding officers found the body wearing clothing consistent with what Sanchez-Munoz had been wearing the night of the shootings.
“Based on clothing description, and last known location, detectives preliminarily believe this deceased person in the residence is Sanchez-Munoz,” police said in a statement.
The medical examiner has not yet confirmed the identity or determined the cause and manner of death.
The Kansas City Star reported that a cadaver dog brought by Kansas City fire crews alerted to possible human remains in the flooded basement on June 16, but no body was found at the time.
Kansas City Fire Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins told the Star that crews could not conduct a more complete search because of debris and standing water in the basement. He said the dog’s alert was shared with the lead agencies before Kansas City fire crews left the scene.
“All officials on scene were made aware that the dog had alerted in the basement,” Hopkins told the newspaper. “What actions or searches were conducted after our departure, I cannot speak to.”
The June 16 shootings unfolded across the Kansas City area, moving west to east. One victim was killed near Truman Road and Bennington Avenue, where police were first called for an injury crash and later learned the victim had been shot.
Four other people were wounded in shootings near I-670 and Wyoming Street, I-70 and Paseo Boulevard, I-70 and Prospect Avenue, and Truman Road and Hardesty Avenue. Police said the victims had been inside vehicles when shots were fired.
One of the surviving victims was an Uber driver who was taking passengers to the World Cup match between Argentina and Algeria in Kansas City.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
