KANSAS CITY, MO. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Missouri, Western), published as received.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Missouri, man has been charged in federal court with illegally possessing a firearm after he used it to threaten a restaurant employee.

Edward Latimore, 46, was charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., on Monday, Aug. 10, with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

This Sig Sauer .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol was seized from Edward Latimore when he was arrested.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, an employee at a KFC restaurant at 3014 Independence Blvd., Kansas City, confronted Latimore on the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 8, when Latimore went to the rear of the restaurant to publicly urinate. After they argued, Latimore left the restaurant. But the employee then saw Latimore in the drive-through window area of the restaurant, and they argued again. Latimore allegedly pulled up his shirt and showed the employee a Sig Sauer .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol in his waistband. Latimore drew the firearm from his waistband, the affidavit says, pointed it at the employee, and threatened to kill the employee.

A second KFC employee had taken a photograph of Latimore, which they provided to the police. Officers searched the area for Latimore and found him walking northbound on the east side of Gladstone Boulevard. Officers contacted Latimore, and took the pistol from his waistband and a magazine, loaded with 10 .22-caliber rounds of ammunition, from his left pants pocket.

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Latimore has prior felony convictions for assault and armed criminal action.

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 Trey Alford. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 

Operation LeGend
Operation LeGend is a federal partnership with local law enforcement to address the increase in homicides and violent crime in Kansas City, Mo., in 2020. The operation honors the memory of four-year-old LeGend Taliferro, one of the youngest fatalities during a record-breaking year of homicides and shootings. Additional federal agents were assigned to the operation from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.