Lionel Womack came from a law enforcement family. His wife and mother are police officers in Kansas City, Kansas, and his stepfather is a retired police sergeant. Two aunts are city police dispatchers.
His wife, Zee Womack, tearfully told The Associated Press that her husband was killed in the altercation and that at least one of the officers involved knew him. She declined to comment further because she is still employed as a Kansas City police officer, and the investigation is ongoing.
Lionel Womack alleged last year in an excessive force lawsuit that Kiowa County Sheriffs Deputy Jeremy Rodriguez intentionally drove over him on Aug. 15, 2020, in an incident that was captured on dashcam video. The deputy has denied the allegations and said hes entitled to qualified immunity .
The family of Lionel Womack thanks the members of the Kansas City community for your outpouring of support after their devastating loss yesterday, said Michael Kuckelman, the attorney representing him in that lawsuit. They are asking for privacy and your prayers, as they grieve.
Police spokesman Thomas Tomasic said we were all friends with the guy, adding that everybody knew him and nobody had a problem with him. He said officers didn't know the 911 calls involved Womack until they arrived at the scene.
A fight ensued over the officer's weapon, which discharged two shots. Womack successfully disarmed the officer and pointed the weapon at that officer before then pointing it at the other officer, who shot and killed Womack. In the video, one officer can be heard saying to the other, Man, you just saved my life, the police chief said.
The two officers received non life-threatening injuries.
He knows our tactics, Oakman said. I think that contributed to his ability to disarm our officer, which made it a very dangerous situation for our officers.
Womack was hired by the Kansas City, Kansas, police department in 2007, promoted to detective in 2018, and terminated in August 2020 after numerous policy violations and conduct issues, the police chief said.
We don't know what happened in his life that caused him to spiral like this, Oakman said.
