A Kansas City man is charged with murder in a fatal shooting near a Walmart Supercenter in Northland is involved in an ongoing federal court lawsuit this week against the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners and a former Kansas City Police Department officer, court documents show.
Taquiza V. Johnson, 47, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in connection with the killing of 71-year-old Ronald Barnett.
Johnson allegedly shot Barnett outside his car shortly after leaving the Walmart Supercenter. According to court documents, police believe the shooting stemmed from an interaction between the two as Barnett entered the parking lot.
In a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2023 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Johnson accuses former Kansas City police officer Jonathan Lenz of excessive use of force, wrongful imprisonment and other civil rights violations.
According to the lawsuit, Lenz was off-duty and not in uniform when he encountered Johnson on Oct. 19, 2020, in the 300 block of Northwest 110th Terrace in Kansas City, the lawsuit states.
Johnson, who worked as a self-employed repairman, was in the area to perform work on a client’s home on Northwest 110th Terrace, court records show. He performed repairs out of Leawood and operated under the business name Getit2gether Repair.
Johnson initially knocked on the door of the wrong house, the lawsuit says. The owner of the correct house then came out and told Johnson he was in the wrong residence, the lawsuit says.
After Johnson made the repairs and left, he was approached by Lenz, who lived on the same block, according to court documents. At the time, Lenz was off-duty and in civilian clothes, Johnson claims in the suit.
Lenz, who was in a police vehicle, got out with his service weapon drawn and a commemorative police badge around his neck, the lawsuit says. According to the lawsuit, Lenz told Johnson he was responding to a 911 call reporting a burglar or intruder in the area.
Johnson was subsequently detained by Lenz and other on-duty police officers, with Lenz keeping his gun drawn for more than 10 minutes, the lawsuit says.
Johnson claims that Lenz explicitly threatened him with deadly violence.
“There was no probable cause or exigent circumstances for Johnson’s detention,” the lawsuit states.
Edward Stump, one of the attorneys representing Johnson in the civil suit, declined to comment on the criminal charges filed against Johnson on Thursday.
“These charges have no impact on our civil action,” Stump said.
The Kansas City Office of Community Complaints investigated the allegations against Lenz after Johnson filed a complaint. In June 2021, the office determined that Johnson’s complaints were valid and wrote that disciplinary action would be taken against Lenz.
According to Stump, mediation in Johnson’s lawsuit took place last week. Johnson is seeking $1 million in damages and has requested a jury trial, the lawsuit says.
A Kansas City Police spokesman confirmed Thursday that Lenz was no longer employed by the agency.
