Masked suspect charged in three Wednesday shootings around south Kansas City area

Murder charges have been filed against an alleged masked man who police believe carried out three shootings, each a few miles apart, in separate south Kansas City area neighborhoods Wednesday morning.

The man, Cameron Kejuan Lee Harper, was charged Thursday with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to Michael Mansur, a spokesman for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.

While a judge had initially sealed the charges, they were made publicly available at 5 p.m. Thursday for reasons that are still unclear.

Two of the three victims in the Wednesday shootings were believed to have suffered non-fatal injuries, according to court documents.

The third victim, a man who lived in Grandview, was allegedly shot and killed by the suspect while pulling out of his driveway, three witnesses told the Star.

None of the victims have been identified.

The shootings

Kansas City police responded to the first shooting Wednesday at 8:19 a.m. near Ruskin Way and Sycamore Terrace. The victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to an area hospital. According to court documents, the suspect was described as a wearing a black face mask with a skull design.

Surveillance revealed the suspect was driving a green Dodge Dakota with a lawnmower in the bed of the truck, documents said.

Eight minutes later, at 8:27 a.m., police were called to a second shooting less than a mile away at Longview Road and Food Lane.

Video captured in front of 7205 Longview Road showed a similar truck “stop or slow down to the victim who was walking while a witness reacts to the gunfire,” documents said.

Then, at 8:31 a.m., Grandview police responded to a fatal shooting in the 11900 block of Smalley Avenue, about one mile away, documents said.

Police said the driving time between the three locations was about two minutes each.

Officers discovered the victim in the driver’s seat of a white Mazda 6, which was found in the middle of the street. The engine was still running with the gear in reverse. The car had struck the driver’s side of a vehicle parked on the street, which Vanessa Ichrist, a neighbor, later told The Star belonged to her daughter.

Emergency medical aid was provided, but the victim was declared dead shortly after.

A search warrant was issued and a police investigation discovered four bullet holes in the windshield of the victim’s car. Seven holes were found in the driver’s side window, court documents said.

Ring footage obtained from a neighbor showed the Dodge Dakota truck approach the victim’s house as the garage door opened. The victim could be seen walking outside the garage as the truck pulled up in front of the driveway.

Ichrist, who had only lived in the neighborhood for one month, said she did not realize how uncommon it was for someone in the area to be killed in a shooting until she discussed it with neighbors.

“My daughter had said even the cops were taken a back by it,” Ichrist said.

The incidents sent police on an emergency search for a person suspected of shooting three people within the space of roughly 15 minutes.

At 10:21 a.m. Kansas City police requested the public’s assistance in locating the suspect and posted a photograph of his green Dodge Dakota truck.

“We need your help,” police said over social media, where they described the suspect as a man in a skull mask.

An hour later, police arrested the suspect and brought him into custody, Becchina said.

Phyllis Harrison, another neighbor of the victim killed in Grandview, told The Star both she and her 13-year-old daughter had witnessed the shooting.

She alleged the suspect left his green pick-up truck and ‘shot him up’ as her neighbor, a man in his late 20’s, was leaving his driveway on the way to work. Then, the suspect drove away.

“At the corner, actually stopped at the stop sign,” Harrison said of the suspected shooter.

“Used his blinker, too.”

Harrison allegedly called 911 and ran over to her neighbor, with whom she had spent the last two years exchanging teasing banter over his collared shirts and love of Modelo beer. She held his hand until police arrived, she said.

“I prayed with him, I said the Lord’s Prayer with him. I didn’t get to finish it before he died.”

The suspect

According to court documents, Grandview police had previously learned the suspect, Cameron Harper, had told another person he worked with about a killing he had committed on July 18.

“[Harper] seemed happy about the situation,” the employee allegedly told police.

The employee allegedly recalled Harper say killing “feels so good.”

Police located Harper’s last reported address and spoke to residents, who confirmed the green Dodge Dakota truck belonged to Harper.

The authorities found Harper walking south on Delmar Street and brought him into custody. While in custody, police received a search warrant to probe through Harper’s backpack, where they found a black skull mask.

Harper’s truck was located less than a mile away from where he was arrested.

In conversations with a witness, police learned that prior to Harper’s arrest, he had “rummaged through” his truck and then got into a brown sedan, before leaving the area.

Inside the car, police found four shell casings in the second row of seating and prescription bottles with Harper’s name. No firearm was located.

Authorities were able to find a firearm in the brown sedan, later identified as a Chevy Malibu, that had been parked at an alleged “drug house” Harper had frequented, documents said.

They discovered a handgun and a 50-round box of bullets inside.

Harper was then brought in for questioning. During his interview, documents said, he remained quiet. Then, at one point, he stood up and attempted to leave the room.

He was then escorted to the Grandview Detention Facility, documents said.

During the investigation, police also discovered Harper had a YouTube channel. In two videos, he appeared to be holding a gun and wearing the same hoodie he would later be arrested in.

“Get hit with a 40,” Harper said in one of his videos, referring to his gun, according to documents.

Harper could also be seen wearing the same skull-marked gaiter witnesses had described seeing at the Wednesday shootings.

A background check revealed Harper was a convicted felon. He had been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, burglary, robbery, theft by deception and attempting to flee or elude authorities, which is a felony.

Those charges were filed exactly one year prior to the Wednesday shootings.