Police investigate shooting death of Kansas City lawyer

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Kansas City police are investigating the death of a lawyer who was shot in his front yard moments after he walked his children to school.

Neighbours and Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker identified the man as 39-year-old Thomas Pickert, a personal injury lawyer.

Pickert was killed Wednesday in the upscale Brookside area of Kansas City. Police said Pickert’s wife heard a gunshot and then found her husband fatally injured outside.

Investigators interviewed a man who owns a white van seen in the neighbourhood at the time of the shooting. Media reports indicate that Pickert recently won a $5.75 million judgment against that man. But police spokeswoman Kari Thompson said Thursday the man is not a suspect in Pickert’s death.

Thompson provided no other details about the investigation.