Gun sale outside fast-food restaurant led to killing; teens charged: Authorities
Three teenagers face felony charges in the killing of a Kansas City man who was shot to death outside of a Lee’s Summit fast-food restaurant in November 2021 after they allegedly met him under the pretense of buying a gun.
Jackson County’s Office of the Juvenile Officer, which acts as a prosecutor in juvenile cases, charged all three teenagers on Wednesday with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and conspiracy to commit a criminal offense.
All are accused of participating in a robbery that ultimately led to the fatal shooting of Randall Lord of Kansas City. Lord was killed a little more than a year ago in the parking lot of a Sonic Drive-in.
Two of the juveniles charged are now 17 years old and the third is 16, a spokeswoman for Jackson County Circuit Court said in an email to The Star on Friday.
Because the alleged killers are juveniles, the case was assigned to the Family Court division of the Jackson County Circuit Court. Under Missouri law, juveniles face a mandatory certification hearing in serious felony cases to determine whether they will be tried as adults.
On Nov. 6, 2021 Lee’s Summit police officers were dispatched around 6:30 p.m. to the Sonic restaurant at 3740 NE Ralph Powell Road in regard to the sound of gunfire. Lord was dead when officers arrived and witnesses said the suspected shooters had left the scene in a dark-colored sedan, according to police.
Witness statements and surveillance video from a nearby gas station led detectives to conclude the getaway vehicle was a blue Toyota. Witnesses also informed detectives that there were three suspects involved and one had been seen shaking hands with Lord in the parking lot.
An affidavit filed this week by a Lee’s Summit police detective in Jackson County says a relative of Lord told detectives the 51-year-old had sold firearms as a hobby over the span of several years. He generally met buyers near a gun store or gas station to conduct the business of selling guns.
On the night he was killed, detectives found that Lord was attempting to sell a 9mm Glock that he had advertised online. Police did not find the firearm at the shooting scene.
Text messages on Lord’s cell phone, where the arrangement of a gun purchase was the topic of discussion, led detectives to a phone number for one of the suspects. The found number was found to be registered to an account held by the suspect’s mother, according to court documents.
A search warrant executed on a SUV registered to the mother of a different suspect led to the discovery of a Glock 9mm that was determined by detectives to be the firearm Lord was attempting to sell. Also found in that vehicle was an ammunition magazine that authorities allege belonged to Lord.
Other digital evidence gathered by police allegedly shows at least two of the suspects being in the general area of one another on the night of the homicide. Detectives also relied on another witness who allegedly reported the three teens were together that night and had openly talked about committing a robbery.
In the affidavit, the detective also alleges the same three teenagers were involved in a separate attempted robbery during a planned firearm transaction involving another man in Belton. He was allegedly shot by one of the suspects but survived, according to court documents.
