KC man charged in fatal shooting of 68-year-old in his own driveway: Court documents
A Kansas City man has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a 68-year-old man in the North Town Fork Creek neighborhood of Kansas City earlier this month.
D’Aires Gadson, 28, was charged in Jackson County court Tuesday with second-degree murder in the death of William Bradford on Oct. 3. He was also charged with armed criminal action and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Gadson is accused of shooting Bradford after the two argued outside of Bradford’s home, according to court documents.
Officers responded to the shooting just before 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 3, in the 5400 block of College Avenue, according to Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a Kansas City Police Department spokesperson. Officers found Bradford in the middle of the street with gunshot wounds, according to Gonzalez. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Surveillance video captured by a Ring camera on Bradford’s front door shows that as Gadson fired several shots at him with a handgun as Bradford ran to his pickup truck — a burgundy Ford F-150 with tan undermarkings — to take cover, according to court documents. As Gadson’s gun jammed, Bradford yelled for witnesses to call the police before Gadson shot him in the back, court documents state.
Witnesses reported that Gadson went through Bradford’s pockets before stealing Bradford’s F-150 and driving away, according to court documents. Gadson later told police that Bradford had fired at least three shots at him during the altercation, court documents read, and that the search through Bradford’s pockets was to see if he was still armed.
Police believe that Gadson and Bradford knew each other, Gonzalez said. According to court documents, Gadson’s brother had previously tried to rob Bradford, who had allegedly sold him a faulty car.
Surveillance video from Bradford’s Ring camera on Aug. 30 shows Gadson arriving at Bradford’s home with a gun poking out of his backpack in an attempt to collect payment for the car, according to court documents.
Gadson was previously incarcerated after pleading guilty to charges of robbery and armed criminal action in 2017, according to court records.
Gadson is not eligible for bond. His next court date has not yet been set.
Bradford’s death was the 119th homicide reported in Kansas City this year, according to data collected by The Star. At the same time last year, 148 homicides had been reported in the city, according to Star data.
Previous reporting by The Star’s Robert A. Cronkleton and Nathan Pilling was used in this article.
