Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Kan., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today following a 46-block-long police chase for illegally possessing a firearm.

 

Simon L. Smith, 29, of Kansas City, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Smith on June 21, 2017.

 

The indictment alleges that Smith, a convicted felon, was in possession of a Taurus 9mm semi-automatic handgun on June 20, 2017.

 

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, Kansas City, Mo., police officers were dispatched to the intersection of 31st Street and Prospect on the evening of June 19, 2017, in regards to gunshots being captured by the Shotspotter system. When officers arrived, they saw multiple gunshot holes in the glass on the corner bus stop, in a business, and a parked vehicle. A victim at the scene told officers that a Chevrolet Equinox, occupied by three males, had pulled into the parking lot and passed in front of him. The Equinox drove past, then circled back through the parking lot. One of the occupants got out of the vehicle, the victim said, pointed a silver handgun, and fired several rounds at him. The victim ducked for cover and the Equinox fled north on Prospect. Officers recovered two bullet fragments and six spent 9mm shell casings.

 

At about 11:34 a.m. the following day, a police officer in an unmarked surveillance vehicle saw the Chevrolet Equinox circling in an apartment complex in the area of 93rd Street and Indiana. The officer followed the Equinox until uniformed officers in marked patrol vehicles could pull it over. Officers turned on their lights and sirens, the affidavit says, but the Equinox did not pull over.

 

Smith, the driver of the vehicle, led police on a car chase that ended approximately 46 blocks north from where it originated, and stopped because both driver’s side tires were deflated by officers using tire deflation devices.

 

When Smith’s vehicle came to a stop on Truman Road, the affidavit says, he immediately fled on foot southbound on Montgall. An officer who pursued Smith on foot saw he was carrying a handgun, which he allegedly threw away. Smith was apprehended and officers found the loaded handgun, the affidavit says, which had been reported as one of two firearms stolen from a residential burglary earlier this month.

 

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Smith has prior felony convictions for burglary and for possessing a weapon at a correctional facility.

 

Larson cautioned that the charge contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt.

 

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford. It was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.