Attorneys released body cam footage of the fatal shooting of Saveion McConnell

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Lafayette County, MO - Body camera footage of the fatal police shooting of an unarmed Lee’s Summit teen has been released by the family’s attorneys.
On Monday, national civil rights and personal injury attorney Benjamin Crump and the legal firm of Romanucci & Blandin, which represents the family of Saveion McConnell, released portions of body camera footage of the 19-year-old’s death on May 1.
Release of the video comes just over three weeks after the Johnson County, Missouri, prosecutor said a deputy’s use of force was justified under Missouri law because McConnell reached for his waistband while being pursued by law enforcement.
The body camera footage released by McConnell’s family’s legal team was recorded by an Odessa Police Department Officer. It shows a Lafayette County Sheriff’s Deputy firing nine shots at McConnell.
McConnell was a 2025 graduate of Lee’s Summit North High School. He was killed early in the morning on May 1 after the Missouri State Highway Patrol indicated that deputies responded to the intersection of Missouri Highway 131 and U.S. Highway 50, where they found a 17-year-old girl in a vehicle with a gunshot wound.
The victim was shot in the back, and McConnell was identified as the shooter, Russell’s report said. Investigators found an AR-style rifle with no serial number and a Glock 9mm pistol inside the vehicle.
His uncle, Phillip Washington, said everyone in the vehicle knew each other and that witnesses told authorities the shooting was accidental.
In the first of two clips shared by attorneys, the Odessa Police Department officer is heard on a phone call with another officer discussing the potential need for a K-9 to search for McConnell. A portion of that conversation included the officer describing the suspect, following conversations with other individuals who were in the vehicle with McConnell earlier in the night.
“Trying to find a Black kid at night,” the officer is heard saying at 3:37 a.m. “That’s always fun. Just from the way the friends were talking, he sounds pretty interesting, so we’ll see how this goes.”
The second video released by attorneys shows the officer and a Johnson County Sheriff’s Deputy stopping McConnell and another individual walking along the highway with the officer’s gun drawn. McConnell initially followed commands, but ran away as he moved to handcuff him.
It then shows the deadly shooting, with McConnell standing near the side of the highway just feet away from the Lafayette County deputy who would, moments later, kill him.
Seconds before the deputy fires the fatal shots, the Odessa officer is captured shouting, “Taser! Taser! Taser!”
McConnell’s hands then moved toward his waist in what the family’s attorneys said “appears to be an attempt to pull up his pants.” That action was immediately followed by the deadly shots being fired, with authorities saying nine shots were fired and eight hit the teen.
On Sept. 15, Johnson County Prosecutor Robert Russell stated that, given the context of McConnell being a suspect on the run and wanted in a shooting, being reported armed, and making a motion to his waistband, no charges would be filed against the deputy.

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