Sword-wielding woman among 3 shot dead in 2 different police shootings in Kansas City

In two separate incidents, three people were shot and killed by police in Kansas City, Missouri, on Thursday.

Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith told the local station KSHB that it was "very unusual" to have two officer-involved shootings on that same day.

"Both incidents," he added, "unfolded protecting other citizens."

In one incident, police were responding to an altercation between two men who apparently were fighting over a golf cart and a gun, KSHB reported. In the other incident, a standoff ended when a sword-wielding woman who fled from police later was shot after attempts to negotiate peacefully proved unsuccessful.

"Obviously," Smith said later, via the department's Twitter feed, "when things like this happen, it's upsetting to a lot of people. It's upsetting to our officers & it's upsetting to this city. ... But I do know we have a duty to protect the people of this city."