The Fairway Police Department took time Wednesday to honor and remember a fallen police officer, one year after he was fatally shot in the line of duty.

Police Commissioner JP Thurlo released a statement on Wednesday afternoon in memory of Jonah Oswald, a 29-year-old husband and father of two young children, on the anniversary of his death.

“We miss Jonah every day,” Thurlo said.

Thurlo said Oswald cracked jokes at the police station and waved to citizens while patrolling Fairway.

“Although Jonah is personally gone, his spirit lives on in the men and women of our police department,” Thurlo said. “Jonah believed in service and selflessness, and we will carry that legacy with us forever in Jonah’s honor.”

The shoot

Oswald was one of the officers who responded to a situation on August 7, 2023, that began with a report of a stolen vehicle and ended with gunfire. Lenexa police were pursuing a stolen SUV whose driver reportedly rammed a patrol vehicle. Police said the suspects jumped out of the vehicle and drove into a QuikTrip vehicle at 4700 Lamar Ave.

Oswald was seriously wounded in a shootout and later died in hospital. A suspect in the carjacking, identified by police as 40-year-old Shannon Wayne Marshall of Ashland City, Tennessee, was also killed at the scene.

In December 2023, Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe ruled that police acted lawfully in killing Marshall. Oswald was shot in the head while attempting to break into a bathroom stall where Marshall was, according to an analysis and summary report from the district attorney’s office.

The other suspect, 32-year-old Andrea Cothran of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, is charged with seven felonies and one misdemeanor, including: first-degree murder, reckless flight from police, aggravated assault on a police officer, possession of a weapon by a felon and three counts of theft.

Cothran is scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing in Johnson County District Court Department 15 at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 5. Jury selection will begin Dec. 16.

‘Forever grateful’

In his statement Wednesday afternoon, Thurlo said he wanted to think of those closest to Oswald, including his wife, two young children and his parents.

“Their grief is immeasurable, but we will always be there for them and consider them part of our family,” he said.

Thurlo said he wanted to thank the community for their support of the police and Oswald’s family over the past year.

“Words alone cannot express how much this support has meant to us and how it has helped us grieve and get through the darkest days of Jonah’s absence,” Thurlo said. “We are eternally grateful.”

Matti Gellman and Anna Spoerre of The Star contributed.