20-year-old Kansas Citian killed on Christmas Eve had whole life ahead of him, family says

On Christmas Eve, Justina West got a call that her younger brother had died in a shooting.

At first, she couldn’t cry. She couldn’t believe that her brother was another person in their lives lost to gun violence. In 2015, their mother was also fatally shot in the metro area.

Eventually, she broke down, but soon after she took on the task of calling their loved ones and letting them know that Nicholas “Nicky” West was gone.

“It was really hard to give them the information,” Justina West said to The Star.

The shooting

Nicky West, 20, was pronounced dead after he was found shot in a parked car around 10 a.m. on Dec. 24 in the area of Eighth and Olive streets, according to police.

When officers arrived at the scene, they first found a different man suffering from gunshot wounds, who Justina said was Nicky’s friend.

The friend’s family told Justina that the men were sitting in the car, when two men robbed them and started shooting. Nicky’s friend ran from the car, and was later taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening,

Officers found Nicky in the car. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police haven’t identified a suspect or a motive for the killing.

Nicky’s family started a GoFundMe in hopes of giving him a funeral “to send him off with the utmost love and care.”

A life cut short

Nicky started taking college classes his sophomore year at J.C. Harmon High School and hoped to attend the University of Kansas and become a brain surgeon one day. For the time being, he worked in roofing and tiling.

He had a contagious smile that lit up the family birthday and holiday parties they attended, Justina said. At their get-togethers, he helped everyone else by offering to clean or watch their kids while his family members cooked.

Nicky was a good friend, who gave what he could to help the people he cared about, Justina said. One of his friends lost their mother to cancer, and Nicky let the friend live with him and share his shoes and clothes.

As the two oldest siblings in their family, Nicky and Justina had a close relationship, she said. He teased and fought with his sister, but always stood up for her when she needed it. Nicky was a caring uncle to her four children and loved to play with them outside or take them for walks in the park.

Nicky didn’t like to cry in front of people, but when their mother Jessica Gutierrez-Lutes was fatally shot in November 2015, he broke down. Since then, they’d get together on their mom’s birthday and the anniversary of her death each year to release balloons.

In high school, Nicky’s best friend died in a motorcycle accident, and some of his wrestling teammates died by gun violence.

Nicky suffered another major loss in September. His girlfriend had a heart attack while they were in bed and later died, Justina said.

When he visited his girlfriend in the hospital, Justina drove Nicky home so that he could shower and eat. She spent time consoling him as he sobbed on her bedroom floor.

After her death, Nicky fell into a depression. Justina didn’t hear from him as much, and when he did go to a family party a few months later, he didn’t feel like socializing and left early.

Nicky told his sister he couldn’t take it. He was tired from grieving his loved ones.

“He gave up on everything,” Justina said. “We were trying to be there for him and help him through that, but we just really believe that he gave up.”

Justina said her family feels confident that detectives will solve her brother’s homicide. Their mother’s killing was never solved, so Justina said her family wants her brother to get the justice he deserves.

“Someone has to know something,” she said, “so we’re really hoping that someone speaks up.”

The homicide was the 181st killing in Kansas City this year, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. This year has now exceeded 2020 as the deadliest year ever recorded in the city.

Anyone with information is asked to call the homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. A reward of up to $25,000 is available for information provided to TIPS that leads to an arrest.