More than three years after a Kansas City teenager died following a shooting near 12th Street and Denver Avenue, prosecutors have charged a 24-year-old man in connection with the killing. Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced Tuesday that Derrick L. Swain faces second-degree felony murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.
The charges stem from a shooting on May 7, 2023, according to KCTV. Kansas City police that day found a victim with apparent trauma near 12th Street and Denver Avenue. The victim was placed on life support and died one week later, per the same report.
The victim was later identified as 17-year-old Kavon Carter, who died from his injuries on May 14, 2023, according to FOX4. Officers located him near East 12th Street and Van Brunt Boulevard, and EMS rushed him to a hospital in critical condition, FOX4 reported. His death marked the city's 60th homicide of 2023, according to FOX4's data at the time.
Surveillance Footage and a Stolen Car
Court documents described how investigators pieced together what happened that day. Surveillance footage caught Swain driving a car with two other individuals inside before making a U-turn onto 12th Street, the station's report states. The rear passengers then fired shots in the direction of the victims, striking one of them, according to the court documents cited by the outlet.
The other two people in the car were juveniles at the time of the shooting, per the same court documents. License plate readers helped police determine the vehicle had been stolen on May 6, 2023, one day before the shooting, and investigators recovered the car two days after it was taken, the report notes.
Kansas City police were also investigating two other shootings within less than an hour of the one that killed Carter, FOX4 reported, though officers did not say whether the incidents were connected.
Held on $150,000 Bond at Jackson County Jail
Swain is now being held on a $150,000 cash-only bond for the new charges at the Jackson County Detention Center. He was already jailed at the time on a probation violation and a failure-to-appear warrant, with bonds for those charges set at a combined $26,000, the same report states.
Under Missouri law, second-degree murder is classified as a class A felony, according to the Missouri Revisor of Statutes. The statute also specifies that punishment for the murder charge is imposed in addition to any punishment for a related felony or attempted felony, other than murder or manslaughter.
