A Kansas City, Kansas man has pleaded guilty to charges connected to his own brother's death, admitting he helped orchestrate an attempted home-invasion robbery in Kansas City that ended with a woman inside the residence opening fire on the intruders in August 2024. Sheldon A. Perkins, 35, entered guilty pleas to first-degree involuntary manslaughter, attempted first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
According to The Kansas City Star, officers responded around 9:45 p.m. on August 26, 2024, to Hillcrest Estates Apartments in the 8400 block of Drury Circle after reports of a shooting and attempted robbery. Police found a man dressed in black clothing lying on the grass outside the apartments and a second man dead inside the home. Investigators later determined the deceased man was Perkins' brother.
Court records described three men approaching a resident's home from the side of the building before overpowering the resident as he tried to shut the door. One of the men told the resident to get back inside, the newspaper's reporting shows, while a woman inside the residence fired at the men after the resident grabbed one of their guns and tossed it toward a set of stairs. The gunfire killed one intruder and struck the other two.
A Brother Recruited at the Last Minute
A witness told investigators that Perkins orchestrated the robbery and recruited his brother and a third person at the last minute, per the same account. Perkins left the scene and later sought treatment at a hospital for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to his left leg. He initially claimed he had been shot at a different location during a random drive-by shooting, but police found no evidence of a shooting at the location he identified and no surveillance footage or reports of gunfire in that area.
Detectives obtained a DNA sample through a search warrant, which helped tie Perkins to the scene, and police eventually took him into custody. When confronted, Perkins reportedly acknowledged the danger he had put himself in, telling investigators, “Yeah, I could have been dead too.” The shooting left the injured man — who had been shot in the back — paralyzed from the waist down.
Charges Reduced From Felony Murder
Perkins was originally charged with second-degree felony murder, attempted first-degree robbery, two counts of armed criminal action, first-degree burglary and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to Great Bend Post. The listed charges included the murder, robbery, armed criminal action, burglary and firearm-possession counts.
As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors requested the murder charge be amended to first-degree involuntary manslaughter, a Class C felony under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 565.024 that carries a punishment range of three to 10 years in prison for recklessly causing another person's death. Perkins also pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
Sentencing Delayed Until January
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Patrick C. Edwards accepted Perkins' plea but withheld formal acceptance of the plea agreement pending sentencing, which is set for January 12, 2027. Edwards was appointed to Division 4 of the 16th Judicial Circuit in November 2024 by Gov. Mike Parson, following federal violent-crime work and prior assistant-prosecuting-attorney experience, according to the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Jackson County.
The case unfolded during a period when Kansas City was grappling with a stubbornly high rate of violent crime. The Kansas City Missouri Police Department recorded 144 homicides in 2024, down from 185 in 2023. According to the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, its Crime Statistics page includes a “2024 Final Daily Homicide Analysis.”
The Drury Circle shooting also drew attention to security concerns at Hillcrest Estates Apartments. Premises liability analysts at The Legal Herald publicly raised questions about the complex's security protocols and prior crime reports in the area following the shooting. It remains unclear whether any civil claims were pursued against the property over the incident. Open Data KC publishes historical property-violation records that include case-closure dates and indicate whether a case remains open. The City of Kansas City says most property permit records dating back to 1986 can be searched through its CompassKC permitting system.
A similar Northeast KC robbery setup case involved a Grain Valley man who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for orchestrating an August 2024 robbery that also ended in a fatal shooting. Robert Spears was identified as a third co-defendant in the Drury Circle case, charged and scheduled for trial.
