By Luke Nozicka
The Kansas City Star
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An officer with the Kansas City Police Department died Sunday afternoon in an apparent suicide in Overland Park, the department said.
The officer was found dead in his personal vehicle when Kansas City and Overland Park officers responded to a call of a welfare check. The on-duty officer, who was feared to be suicidal, had been on a break and missing in his vehicle, police said.
Officer Donna Drake, a police spokeswoman, said the officer served the department for more than eight years and was assigned to the Patrol Bureau. In an email, she described him as dedicated.
“It is with very heavy hearts we have to report the tragic loss of one of our own,” Drake wrote.
The police department has activated its volunteer chaplains as well as peer support resources for department members.
Police asked the public to keep the department and relatives of the officer, who was not identified, in their thoughts and prayers.
Local officials and agencies, including Kansas City Fire Chief Donna Lake and the ATF’s Kansas City Field Division, said on Twitter that their thoughts were with the police department.
“Look after one another and support each other always,” Lake wrote.
In 2019, a 10-year veteran of the Kansas City Police Department died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He remained on life support for several days while waiting for organ donation recipients.
The number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255.
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