Great detective work & LPR records take a would-be killer off the streets
It took great police work and great technology to bring an end to the Kansas City highway shootings last month. At least three people were struck by gunfire, none fatally, and more than ten vehicles sustained bullet hole damage. Minimal suspect information was known and the police didn't have much to go on until they got a call from a woman who said she had been followed by a subject she thought might be the shooter. Because of his strange behavior, the woman noted his license plate number and vehicle description.
Police checked their license plate reader (LPR) database and found records from 2013 with the plate displayed on at least two different vehicles parked in front of a house in the Kansas City suburb of Grandview. In one of those LPR photos, a vehicle similar to the one described by the witness was partially visible and later the LPR system captured a record with the plate displayed on the reported suspicious vehicle.
Investigators learned that, several months before the highway shootings began, a resident near the Grandview LPR reads had reported finding a bullet hole in the wall of their home. That bullet was subsequently matched to rounds recovered in the highway shootings.
As the investigation continued, police got a call regarding a person who had found some empty ammunition boxes and shell casings after kicking a shopping bag while walking along a roadway. Although the wind had blown the bag away, police recovered it and got an alert from an explosives dog. A print was lifted from the bag and from the flap of one of the ammo boxes. Both prints were determined to be from Mohammed Whitaker, a subject with connections to an address near the location of the LPR reads.
Over a period of several days, investigators used cell phone pings, a warrant-authorized GPS tracker and intense surveillance to ultimately build their case against Mohammed Whitaker. He was taken into custody after being observed driving in a manner that suggested another incident was imminent. He'd been seen during the surveillance trying to buy a gun from a private party.
This case demonstrated the critical role that technology, especially LPR, can play in police investigations. It's noteworthy that the LPR reads in this case were captured several months before the shootings began. Retaining LPR records is a subject of intense debate and many privacy advocates maintain that LPR records should not be retained after determination that a vehicle is not wanted. Bottom line: Most law enforcement officials involved in LPR believe that the records should be held because of their value in solving crime as demonstrated in this case.
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