A federal lawsuit has been filed by family members of a two-year-old girl who died in a standoff a year ago in southeast Kansas.
The lawsuit was filed by the family of Clesslyn Crawford, who died during an exchange of gunfire between her father and law enforcement officers. The lawsuit names Cherokee County and the cities of Baxter Springs, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said the girl’s father, 37-year-old Eli Crawford, was involved in a standoff on March 26th, 2022 in Baxter Springs. Crawford shot and killed the girl’s mother, 27-year-old Tayler Dawn Shutte, then he fired shots at officers for more than three hours before killing himself. Police later said that a Joplin officer fired the shot that killed Clesslyn Crawford.
Deputies from Cherokee County and Joplin police officers were called to the standoff.
