By Christine Vendel
The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY — The Kansas City police board today fired an officer who had found a gun at a suspected killer’s apartment but put the possible murder weapon in a freezer and left.
Police board members said Danny Holmes didn’t check whether the gun was loaded and left the gun “in proximity to a known felon with an outstanding warrant.”
Holmes also took a box of bullets from the felon’s home in 2003, but did not turn them in as evidence. Instead, Holmes carried the bullets in his bag, which he kept in his car trunk, for three years.
Those actions were unsafe, violated department policy and merited termination, board members concluded in their decision, filed Thursday.
Holmes had been on unpaid leave since August 2006, when Police Chief Jim Corwin recommended firing him. Holmes then requested an administrative hearing to try to save his job.
Copyright 2008 The Kansas City Star