The Wyandotte County District Attorney has filed capital murder charges against a suspect in connection with the killing of a Kansas City, Kansas police officer. Authorities are continuing their investigation and pursuing justice in the case.

Wyandotte County

Wyandotte County authorities have charged Dennis Mitchell III with capital murder following the death of Kansas City, Kansas Police Officer Hunter Szymanski, who was struck by a car. In addition to capital murder, Mitchell faces charges of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, theft, and criminal possession of a firearm by a felon.

District Attorney Mark Dupree stated that Mitchell is presumed innocent until proven guilty and that a decision on seeking the death penalty has not yet been made. The DA emphasized the importance of evidence in bringing charges and noted that the investigation is ongoing. Community leaders expressed condolences to the officer’s family and highlighted support for law enforcement.

Wyandotte County charges suspect with capital murder in officer's death

This is a breaking news alert from KSHB 41 News. We're interrupting Scripps News coverage of the Minneapolis shooting to bring you live coverage of the announcement of charges for the man accused of killing KCK Officer Hunter Szymanski. Officer Szymanski died yesterday after he was hit by a car. Investigators say the suspect, who they say was driving that suspect, or driving that car, is Dennis Mitchell III, and we'll hear from DA Mark Dupree about those charges. Jefferson, who was the president of the Fraternal Order of Police Allots for, along with Kansas City, Kansas Mayor and CEO Tyrone Gardner. The purpose of this press conference is twofold. First, to express our heartfelt condolences to the family of KCKPD Officer Hunter Szymanski, and his two years on the force, he made a profound impact on the department and the community he served so proudly. His sacrifice will never be forgotten. To the family, this county stands with you, and we're here to support you in every way that we can and in every way that is needed. Second, in the matter of the death of Officer Henry Hunter Szymanski on August 26th, 2025, I announced the filing of charges against Dennis Mitchell III. Today, my office charged Mitchell with one count of capital murder, one count of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, two counts of theft, one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a felon. Mitchell is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Kansas rules of professional conduct prohibits me from discussing facts in detail about the case. The crime of capital murder is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty. A decision regarding the death penalty has not been made at this time. I would like to thank all of the law enforcement officers and first responders for your hard work, your dedication on behalf of the citizens of Wyandotte County. As we move away from dangerous situations, it is the men and women who wear these uniforms who are running toward them. To ensure our safety and putting themselves in harm's way. I would also like to thank the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for their assistance concerning this case, as they are the lead in the investigation thus far. I appreciate and I want to thank the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department and all of our medical staff, the University of Kansas and all that tried their best to save the life of this amazing officer. Today is not a good day. Today is not a day that we celebrate. Quite frankly, today is not a day that I look forward to because yet again, we stand here. But it is my hope that today the community will hear me, that it is not okay to come after our law enforcement. It is not okay to come after the people who put their lives on the line on a daily basis. The individuals who has wives, husbands, children's, mother and fathers who are waiting for them to come home and they sacrifice it all daily. We are in this thing together and as they fight to keep us safe, this office will fight to do everything in our power to rain justice down on anyone who dares to harm them. Our Deputy District Attorney, Garrett Ralph will be assisting me on this case along with Assistant District Attorney, Chad Walker. I will be leading this prosecution and I want it known that it is not ever all right to come after law enforcement. They have done too much and their families have sacrificed too much. At this time, I'm going to step aside and allow the Kansas City, Kansas' CEO, Mayor Gardner to have words. Thank you, DA. I can't really say any more than what our DA has already said other than let's be sure to keep the family of Officer Salmanek and all the men and women of the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department who go out and do great things, good things every single day right here in Kansas City, Kansas. Keep them in our thoughts and our prayers and they're gonna need our continued support. If you see a police officer, let them know that you value the work that they do, that you appreciate the dedication and the commitment to service that they exhibit every single day and that you love and support them and recognize them not just being men and women in blue and uniform, but being our friends and our neighbors because they live here with us. And let's just keep Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas uplifted in prayer as well. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. At this time, both the Mayor and Deputy Chief Anderson and I will take questions if there are any. Mark, I do have a question and a follow-up as well. It is our understanding that Mitchell has a pending drug case against him. Based on my understanding of that case, it's standard to start with a $5,000 bond for that level of felony. However, this guy is not standard. He has a history of not showing up in court, of probation violations. My question is, did your assistant DA, Scott Brinkman, seek a higher bond than $5,000 in that drug case? And if not, why not? So let me start by giving just a little bit of history. The bond on cases are not set by the Wyandotte County District Attorney's offices. The bond is set by judges. And in this case, Mr. Mitchell, in 2024, was arrested for having two grams of drugs. And the judge gave him a bond of $5,000. And then he bonded out. Then he showed back up and the judge told him, you need to continue to come to court. He failed to appear. With the pressure of this office and the court, he received a higher bond of $7,500. Answer your question, yes, he did get a higher bond. Then he posted that bond, as he is legally able to do. He then was picked up in Iowa and had to serve time there. And the judge then put another bond on Mr. Mitchell while he was in jail. And again, this office pushed for more bond. In Kansas, the law has just recently changed. And bonding companies, rather than now being held responsible for the amount of money that they allow an individual to sign, hence that bonding company would have to pay that. Now, the bonding company lobbied the state of Kansas. And so now they get to go before the judge and say, judge, even if they don't appear, don't charge us that amount of money. We promise again that they will show up to court. And this bonding company did that. While he was in custody in Iowa with a bond, that bonding company went to a judge and the judge said, fine, I'll give you another court date. So then he bonds out or rather finishes his time in Iowa and he comes to Kansas City and guess what? He does what the pattern is. He fails to appear again. And again, this office and the court pushed for a higher bond. And the bond then was set at $10,000. So that bond was set by a judge. And it's important to note that according to the constitution and our state law, an individual has a right to a bond, but only a judge can set that bond. Mark, as a follow-up on that Iowa case that you mentioned, my understanding is, is that after that second failure to appear here, that he was arrested there, you folks were notified, were given an opportunity to extradite him, that Mitchell actually signed the extradition papers to come back to KCK and you declined to extradite him. You didn't pick him up and bring him back here. Why not? And you just heard the last part of my answer, which deals exactly with that, because the law changed. And the law says that he doesn't have a warrant anymore because a bonding company went to the judge and got a new court date. So he had to finish his time in Iowa and on a promise of his bonding company, and by the say of a judge, he was permitted on his word to come back. So no, this office did not waste the taxpayer's dollars to go and do something that the judge said was not necessary. But thank you for your questions. Any other questions? Yes, ma'am. Why no determination on the death penalty yet, especially given your decision in Deputy Ming's case, in the death of Deputy Ming? It's a process. Not only does all of the facts and all the evidence have to be considered, but also this is not a decision to be made lightly. This is one that takes time. It's one that I intend on sitting and discussing with the family and discussing with law enforcement, as well as reviewing all of the evidence. And might I add, that evidence is still ongoing. Do you feel like you have more evidence in the case revolving around the death of Elijah Ming than you do in the evidence revolving around this one, to seek the death penalty? Every case is different and every case is unique. And I think that I'm getting the best information that we have available for this case. Do you feel like the system failed the law enforcement in this case when it comes to Mr. Mitchell and him being in and out of Wyandotte County so many different times? You know, here's what I'll say about the system. Any system that is ran and created by human beings is flawed. It's flawed because we, as human beings, are flawed. And having been in this seat now nearly nine years, we've changed a lot of things because in this process we have seen things that we believe can be done more effective and more efficient. And so we've changed them. And I think that our criminal justice system as a whole, it continues to evolve. It continues to change the laws, the policies, what we can and what we can't do, what our law enforcement agencies can and can't do. But here's what we do know. We do know that every man and woman that is a part of this system, as flawed as it may be, doesn't deserve the blame for today. Not a judge, not even a bonding company, not Iowa, not our law enforcement. The only person that deserves to receive all of what we're feeling is Mr. Mitchell. Wasn't the system that took the life of this officer. It was Mr. Mitchell. It wasn't the system and its flaws that caused the harm and the pain for this family. It wasn't a bonding company or a judge in a bond. It was someone who made a decision, a choice. So let's not get caught up on the foolishness of who to blame. Here's to blame. Mr. Mitchell is to blame. And that is all that this office is focused on. Can we change the system? Yes. Should we change as we continue to learn more? Sure. But today, the focus is on the charging of Mr. Mitchell. Yes, sir. I can only imagine having one high-profile case on your plate. You have two in under a month now. How do we ensure nothing falls through the cracks moving forward but two high-profile cases on your plate? We have men and women in this office who are dedicated to making sure that nothing falls between the gap. We have attorneys whose entire focus and purpose is about being the minister of justice. And they are staying the late hours and they're getting here before the sun gets up to make sure that we do our part so that our law enforcement partners and what they do, their job is not in vain. And right now, as I stand here today, our unified government and commissioners are looking at our budget and they have made sure to let me know that they are gonna do everything that they can to provide the resources and the finances for us to handle both of these high-profile cases because every one of those commissioners, including our mayor and all of the staff, want to do their part in making sure that nothing falls. One more question. Mark, I wanted to ask you about a decision your office made in 2021. Mr. Mitchell was arrested for murder. Your office declined to prosecute that case. My question is, apparently it was for lack of evidence. Can you explain that? And is there any suspect that has been arrested in that particular case at this point? Thank you for the question and can always count on you to take us back to where we shouldn't be. But here's your answer. Because there was no evidence. In this country, you have to have evidence. You have to have proof. You have to have a witness. You have to have a gun. You have to have something. The law literally says that I cannot bring a case without evidence unless I have probable cause, hence the evidence, to show that they committed this crime. You've been in this business long enough. Here's your answer. Unless we have evidence, we can't bring the charge. Why was he not charged? Because there was no evidence, period. Here's the reality, folks. In this country, we're governed by laws, not emotions, not hearsay, not how we feel, not who we think is at fault. But today, we are charging Mitchell, not because I think he's a bad guy, or maybe he's been a bad guy for a long time. No, all of that is irrelevant. I'm charging him today because we have the evidence and we have the proof. And that's what this job requires. And so today I'm saying to this community, justice will be served. And if you, regardless of your past and or how you were raised, commit crimes, especially to our law enforcement, this administration will do everything in our power to come after you. Thank you for your time. Thanks, guys. Thank you. And that was Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark Dupree addressing a group of reporters. We had a crew there as well. And again, this is a recap of those charges that are being passed down to the suspect there in that case. I'm gonna read those off for you. One count of capital murder. It could be punished by life in prison or the death penalty. A decision on the death penalty has not been made yet. That's according to Dupree. One count of fleeing an officer, two counts of theft, and one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a felon. And so District Attorney Dupree made a point to say, this man, the suspect, has had a criminal history, but today is the day that we're handing down justice. Hopefully this is the path toward justice. And he's asking the community to keep the law enforcement community in our thoughts and lifting the community up in prayer. Again, there was a lot of back and forth about the suspect's criminal history and bond amounts and not showing up for court. And he said, in previous cases, there wasn't the proof. Today, he says they have the proof and that's why they are handing these charges down. Again, one count of capital murder, one count of fleeing an officer, two counts of theft, and one count of criminal possession of a firearm by a felon. There is much more to go on this. Again, a decision on the death penalty has not been made yet, but we'll have more coverage coming up at four o'clock. This developing news, including a closer look at the push in Kansas to create tougher penalties for people convicted of running from the police. Again, we'll have all that coverage coming up at four o'clock and we'll see you then.

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