Arrest warrant issued only hours earlier
By Kevin Hoffmann, MARÁ Rose Williams, and Mark Morris
Six hours before a fiery South Kansas City standoff Monday, a Jackson County judge had issued an arrest warrant for the owner of the homes destroyed in the confrontation.
Municipal prosecutors on Tuesday said a judge issued the warrant for Donin E. Wright after he failed to appear at a morning hearing. Kansas City Prosecutor Beth Murano said Wright had been convicted last fall of not obtaining a city permit for a pile of construction debris outside one of his properties at 9409 Grandview Road.
He earlier had been sentenced to 10 days in jail and a $500 fine, but the judge had delayed imposing the judgment, giving Wright time to either get a permit or cleanup the debris.
City officials, however, doubted whether Monday’s court setback triggered the standoff, in which an ambulance employee was wounded by gunfire.
“I would like to stress that the city does not have any indication that yesterday’s hearing or case has any relationship to or bearing on the explosions or shooting of the MAST personnel,” Murano said.
Earlier today, investigators found a body in one of two homes destroyed by fire. Officers remained at the scene early this afternoon collecting evidence.
The body, which has not been identified, was found at 9400 Grandview Road, from which shots were fired after authorities responded to a reported house explosion Monday. Two shots wounded a Kansas City paramedic, who today was beginning what a doctor said would be a long recovery.
Earlier today, tactical officers carrying assault weapons, along with police dogs, began searching through the debris where the two houses once stood on opposite sides of the street in the 9400 block of Grandview Road.
Small fires continued to burn at the scene, one fueled by an open gas line.
An ambulance and four fire trucks riddled with bullet holes remained in the street as a reminder of the chaotic scene that began about 3:40 p.m. Monday.
At Research Medical Center, paramedic Mary Seymour of the Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust, remained in critical but stable condition. She was awake and alert today and has communicated — mostly with hand gestures and eye movements — with her sister and her two teenage children..
Seymour was shot twice in the chest, officials said, causing four lung punctures from entrance and exit wounds. In addition, a bullet grazed her heart.
Hillary A.A. Chollet, director of trauma services at Research Medical Center, said that although her condition is stable, Seymour “is not out of the woods yet.” The doctor said the paramedic faces a prolonged recovery.
“Obviously, she has a long road ahead of her,” said Eric Dooley, a MAST spokesman.
Dooley said that Seymour probably would have died from her injury if not for the heroic efforts of police and firefighters.
Seymour’s ambulance and police had arrived at the scene of a reported house explosion when a suspect began firing at them from across the street. Seymour was wounded and fell near her ambulance.
“The decision was made by the Fire Department to go get her,” Dooley said. “Police laid down cover fire and six firefighters ran over to her and dragged her back behind a fire truck.”
The firefighters put Seymour on a backboard, placed her in a fire truck and raced her down the road to another ambulance.
“The amount of gunfire these guys were under is incredible,” Dooley said. “We’re talking about hundreds of bullets. I’m told the side of the ambulance looks like Swiss cheese.”
Dooley estimated that it took about 30 minutes after the shooting to pull Seymour to safety and transport her to the hospital.
At a news conference this morning, Seymour’s sister, Annie Wallace of Kansas City, thanked firefighters.
“Firefighters took an extreme personal risk to get her out of there,” Wallace said. “If they had not done what they did, she would have bled to death right there before that guy stopped shooting.”
Wallace described Seymour as a physically fit triathlete who runs daily, bikes and swims. She expects Seymour to return to work as soon as she can. Seymour is the oldest of six children.
Police say at least one of the houses that burned is owned by Donin Wright and they were looking for him to question him. They said they do not consider him a suspect.
Kansas City Police Capt. Ron Fletcher said officers saw a man with a gun shooting at them from between two houses across the street from where the first house caught fire. He said police returned fire then noticed the fallen paramedic and turned their attention toward her.
A short time later a house near the suspect exploded and caught fire. Investigators still have not determined what caused the fires.