Cameron Lamb
A Jackson County, Missouri grand jury has indicted a Kansas City police detective in the 2019 killing of Cameron Lamb who was shot while sitting in his pickup truck in his own backyard.
DeValkenaere and another detective, Troy Schwalm were in the area when they responded to radio dispatches regarding a traffic incident, according to prosecutors.
Schwalm arrived first but did not stop to ask any questions of a resident, who was on the porch. He exited his vehicle, drew his gun and walked to the backyard.
Prosecutors allege the detectives, who were in plainclothes, did not request permission to enter the property. Prosecutors said the detectives did not have a warrant.
Instead, DeValkenaere, who had a handgun, asked the resident about who was in the backyard. Schwalm went up the driveway on the south side of the house and encountered a man, not Lamb, in the backyard near several vehicles.
Lamb had backed his pickup into the garage while DeValkenaere positioned himself on the other side of the house.
The detective then went to the backyard and then to the garage and knocked over a barbecue grill and the hood of a car, according to prosecutors. Schwalm told investigators that as he stood on the driver’s side of the pickup truck, he could see Lamb. Schwalm also said he noticed Lamb’s left hand and Lamb looking at him.
Schwalm stated there was no gun in Lamb’s left hand, according to prosecutors.
DeValkenaere said he could see both hands from where he was standing, according to the affidavit. He said Lamb’s right hand was on the steering wheel and he saw Lamb slide his left hand down his body, reach into his waistband and pull a gun and point it at Schwalm.
DeValkenaere then fired his gun. Four bullets hit the windshield of the pickup and two struck Lamb, fatally wounding him. After he was shot, the pickup continued to roll backward and came to rest at the back of the garage.
Schwalm said he saw Lamb’s body slide toward the passenger’s seat after he was shot. Tactical officers entered the garage and identified a gun on the ground beneath Lamb’s hand where the truck finally came to rest. Lamb’s body was inside the truck and his left arm was hanging out of the open driver’s side window.
Medical records show that Lamb is right-handed and he did not have full use of his left hand as a result of an injury sustained in 2015, according to prosecutors.
Phone records, according to the affidavit, and a voicemail recording recovered by prosecutors showed Lamb made a phone call about the time he was shot. That call went to voicemail, and a recording of the immediate aftermath of the shooting was created.
A voice is heard demanding that Lamb exit the vehicle, show his hands and keep his hand or hands up. Lamb’s cellphone was found by his right side when crime scene technicians processed the scene, according to prosecutors.