1st of 2 suspects charged in KC shooting at auto shop ‘after-hours’ party that killed 3

A 26-year-old Kansas City man was charged Monday in the weekend mass shooting that left three people dead and six others injured in Kansas City, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

Keivon M. Greene is charged with first-degree-assault and armed criminal action. Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a news release Monday that more charges are expected this week as the investigation progresses.

Greene is one of two suspects in the shooting, according to court documents.

The shooting claimed the lives of three victims, including 28-year-old Jasity J. Strong, 29-year-old Camden M. Brown and 22-year-old Nikko A. Manning, at about 4:30 a.m. Sunday at an auto shop that witnesses describe as a “club” that holds after-hours parties near 57th Street and Prospect Avenue. Six other people, including Greene, were wounded in the shooting.

Loved ones had previously identified the victims killed in the shooting to The Star on Sunday, although police did not confirm those names until Monday. Strong was a mother of two out celebrating her birthday that night, according to family. Brown and his girlfriend ran from the gunfire after it erupted, his father said. Manning had just turned 22 before he was killed, said his mother.

Greene remained in police custody in a hospital Monday afternoon, according to the prosecutor’s office.

A different man was taken into custody Sunday evening at a home in the 5300 block of Truman Road in Grandview.

Two alleged shooters

Charging documents filed Monday against Greene begin to paint a picture of what happened in the moments before shots rang out.

One of the victims who survived the shooting told police during an interview at the hospital that she arrived at what she described as a “club” in the 5600 block of Prospect Avenue at about 3 a.m. Sunday, court records show. As she walked in the entrance, she saw a man standing with his girlfriend; she hugged both of them.

At that point, her boyfriend walked up to the man at the entrance and told him to “watch his hands,” according to charging documents.

The man at the door then moved away from the couple that had just approached. As the couple turned to walk away, the man at the entrance pulled out a gun and shot the second man in the back, the girlfriend told police.

After the initial shot was fired, another suspect, identified in court records as Green, pulled out a gun and shot the girlfriend of the man who was shot in the back. This was the same person later interviewed by police. She told police she then ran into the club to take cover “and heard the sound of continued gunfire outside of the location,” court records show.

When she came back outside, the victim, who had been shot in the buttocks, saw two people lying dead on the ground.

Later, from her hospital bed, she told police that she recognized the two suspects from school.

Police then interviewed Greene, who told authorities he transported himself to the hospital after realizing he had a gunshot wound to the hand.

Greene told police, according to charging documents, that he was walking out of the club when he noticed a man wearing underwear “causing a disturbance. A short time later, he began hearing gunshots coming from everywhere.”

Another victim, also interviewed by detectives at the hospital, told police that he was sitting in the passenger seat of a silver BMW down the street from the club when he started hearing “gunshots coming from everywhere.” A bullet struck the windshield, and shards of glass pierced the victim’s eyes.

Auto shop and club

Police confirmed Monday that the shooting happened at the business on the northwest corner of East 57th Street and Prospect Avenue.

That business, Perfect Touch Auto Detail, at 5646 Prospect Avenue, was established on May 19, 2014, according to documents from the Missouri Secretary of State.

The purpose of the business, according to the establishing documents, was auto detailing and sales of used tires and salvage.

“The gathering was outside an auto/mechanic shop business that is known to host informal ‘after hours’ gatherings,” , Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman with the Kansas City Police Department, said Monday.

The shooting appeared to have happened in the parking lot on the shop’s property and in the street in front of the business.

“There is not a licensed club/bar/restaurant at that location,” Becchina said.

Nathaniel Gadson, who is listed as the owner and manager of the auto shop, could not immediately be reached for comment. An employee outside the shop Monday said he did not know anything about the shooting.

A local business owner, who asked not to be named, said a number of weekend gatherings had occurred in recent weeks in or around the auto shop, including a sizable event with bikini-clad women. The owner said the business should be “vacated.”

The Star’s Katie Moore and Andrea Klick contributed to this report.