Man charged in Independence road rage shooting appears in Jackson County court

A 39-year-old man charged in the Oct. 16 road rage shooting death of an Independence woman made his first appearance Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court.

Christopher P. Taylor of Independence is charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Whitney Gray.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Charles H. McKenzie entered a not-guilty plea on Taylor’s behalf during the brief hearing. Taylor is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond. He is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 21.

Taylor returned to Jackson County custody Monday. He had been held in a South Dakota jail after fleeing from Jackson County after the shooting. On Oct. 19, Taylor waived his right to fight extradition to Missouri.

According to court records, Gray was fatally shot while driving in the area of Winner Road and Sterling Avenue. A teenager and two small children in her minivan were not injured.

Witnesses said they heard a gunshot fired moments after a passenger inside the minivan threw a drink at the vehicle allegedly driven by Taylor, according to prosecutors.

Investigators later used a GPS tracking system to locate Taylor, who was roughly 700 miles away at a motel in Pennington County, S.D.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Man charged in Independence road rage shooting appears in Jackson County court."