NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

MARCH 5, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KC MAN CHARGED IN COURTHOUSE DISTURBANCE

ARRESTED WITH KNIFE; LOADED RIFLE FOUND IN VEHICLE

            KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was charged in federal court today with illegally possessing a firearm after being arrested following a disturbance at the Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse on Thursday, March 4, 2010.

            Wendell C. Woods, 28, of Kansas City, was charged in a federal criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City.

            Today's complaint charges Woods with being an unlawful user of a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm. Woods was allegedly a user of PCP while in possession of a Hi-Point 9 mm rifle.

            According to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint, Woods parked a Buick LeSabre in front of the federal courthouse, in a conspicuously marked no-parking zone, and entered the courthouse at about 2 p.m. on Thursday. Woods made comments about a conspiracy to commit murder, the affidavit says, and was asked to leave by the security officers. Officers attempted to escort Woods from the building when he became combative.

            Officers wrestled Woods to the ground and placed him in handcuffs. Woods was in possession of a large kitchen knife and a magazine loaded with seven rounds of 9mm ammunition. Kansas City police officers arrived and arrested Woods for criminal trespass.

            As officers were writing Woods a citation and preparing to tow his vehicle, the affidavit says, the barrel of the firearm was seen protruding from underneath the front seat of the car.

            Phillips cautioned that the charge contained in this complaint is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Barnes. It was investigated by the U.S. Marshal's Service, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Protective Service.

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