Homicide suspect killed after 100 mph police chase ends in Platte City

PLATTE CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Police shot and killed a homicide suspect after a high-speed chase across state lines that ended in Platte County late Tuesday night.

The suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Mekiah Harris of Kansas City, Kansas. He was wanted for one count of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery in a triple shooting from over the weekend in KCK. One person was killed and two others were injured in that shooting.

Kansas City, Missouri, police said they spotted a car linked to a suspect wanted in a homicide out of KCK around 9:30 p.m. They then chased the vehicle from KCMO over into KCK. The pursuit reached speeds of nearly 100 miles per hour.

The chase then crossed back over into Missouri, with police using stop-sticks to crash out the vehicle around 10 p.m. in a Platte City neighborhood near NW 132nd Street, just west of I-435. Once the suspect’s vehicle crashed, he took off - armed - into a wooded area. He hid behind a home while the family inside hid in the basement, according to the Platte County Sheriff’s Office.

At some point, while the authorities were looking for the suspect, shots were fired and Harris was killed. It’s not clear exactly how the deadly confrontation went down.

Police said they have a lot of factors to investigate, including who shot who, when and why. The sheriff said law enforcement at the scene did have body cameras, so investigators will be looking at those as well.

It’s unknown which agency fired the shot or shots that killed the suspect, as both Kansas City Police Department officers and Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers fired shots. The sheriff said the Platte County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, as their agency did not have any deputies fire shots during the encounter. The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department said their officers were not involved in the pursuit or standoff.

On Tuesday night, KCTV5 News spoke with one resident of a neighborhood nearby.

“It’s scary, you know, especially in this neighborhood,” said Areyon Bounds. “I know a lot of people here. It’s a very close-knit community and to have something like that up here, it’s just... it’s insane.”

“I’m glad they got the situation under control,” Bounds said. “It could have got way out of control. He could have started breaking into people’s houses shooting, you know, a lot of things can happen.”

Additional coverage:

Residents recall last night’s deadly police-involved shooting