Kansas City mother imagines murdered son’s last breaths as she pleads for help

The images LaShonda Smith carries with her of her murdered son’s last moments are excruciating to bear.

Kevin Smith, 28, of Kansas City, whose identity was released by police Monday, was shot down Thursday night in the street near Benton Boulevard and 11th Street.

“My eldest son … was murdered and left on the street as his life slipped away in his own blood by someone who has NO REGARDS for human life,” LaShonda Smith wrote on the GoFundMe website.

“My son didn’t deserve to be treated like trash and left on the curbside to die alone, scared and grasping for every breath to live,” she wrote.

Police have published no information on any suspects in Smith’s murder. The case remains under investigation.

“I got the worst news a mother could get,” LaShonda Smith wrote earlier on Facebook, just hours after her son had died. “Two detectives came to my house and sat in my living room and told me that my oldest son … was a victim of a homicide …”

Testimonials followed from friends who remembered Kevin Smith as funny, kind and talented.

“Kevin was a sweetheart and had an amazing beautiful singing voice,” posted Drea Jennie Watzon.

Shakirah Marie wrote, “Kevin was my family, my friend, he was one of a kind, always had me rolling, always made me feel like his little baby sis…always made me feel beautiful.”

LaShonda Smith posted a video from Christmastime inside a home full of family and tables of food, where Kevin Smith toured the house like a reality show host, wearing a black fedora hat.

“My baby was the comedian!!!!!” she posted. “I love and miss him so much!!!”

The family has set up a GoFundMe page — Kevin Smith’s Burial Fund — to help raise money.

On Facebook, she pleaded for help in solving his murder.

“I’m begging you if anybody have any information in to the senseless murder of my son PLEASE PLEASE call the KANSAS CITY POLICE!!!!!” she wrote. “My son was loved by so many...”

Police asked that anyone with information call the TIPS hotline 816-474-TIPS (8477).

This story was originally published August 14, 2017 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Kansas City mother imagines murdered son’s last breaths as she pleads for help."