More than two weeks after a Grandview man was shot and killed by Lenexa police, the ACLU of Kansas is calling for transparency and accountability. The nonprofit posted a plea for information on its Facebook page Wednesday. “We stand alongside the community calling for justice and the immediate release of Lenexa police camera footage involving the police killing of Jose Enrique Cartagena Chacon,” the post said. “Trust in law enforcement requires transparency — and the people who have sworn to protect us should not be allowed to kill members of the community and remain anonymous, and avoid accountability.” TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard The post further said: “This tragedy cannot be ignored and police violence can not remain unchecked in Kansas.” Family members have requested to see the footage from the incident. The Star emailed a spokesperson with Lenexa police last week asking when family would be able to view that video; no one responded. In Kansas, body camera footage is considered a criminal investigation record. Under state law, that classification gives police departments or other public officials like district attorneys broad discretion in deciding whether the recordings get released or stay shielded from public view, even after a case is closed. The law does allow certain family members of individuals fatally shot by police to view the video within 20 days of the request. Since the shooting, in the early morning hours of June 22, the Lenexa Police Department has said little. No details have been released about what specifically led up to the shooting or what prompted at least one officer to shoot Chacon. The 25-year-old man, who was known by many as Enrique, lived with relatives in Grandview. Police knocked on the family’s door around 7 a.m. June 22 to tell them that Chacon had been shot. What Lenexa police have said is that at 3 a.m. June 22 police were called to the Lenexa Crossing Apartment Homes, in the 12400 block of West 97th Terrace. Officers responded to a report of a disturbance involving someone with a gun, according to the department’s initial news release. Once officers arrived at the complex, the release said, they located an individual inside a parked vehicle near the pool/clubhouse area. Chacon was transported by Johnson County Med-Act to a nearby hospital and was later pronounced deceased, police said. Since the shooting, two Lenexa police officers have been on paid administrative leave, which is standard, Officer Danny Chavez, a police spokesman, told The Star. The shooting is being investigated by the Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigative Team, and the Olathe Police Department is serving as the host agency. Chacon’s family is raising money to send his body back to El Salvador, where his mother and other family members and friends can say goodbye. Chacon came to the area when he was 15, according to family, and several extended relatives live here. “He was a hard worker,” one relative said. “He did so many things for his family. … He was very loved.” Family and friends have created a Facebook page since the fatal shooting and on Wednesday included the ACLU post that called for transparency. With that post was the tag “#justiceforenrique.”
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