Two Kansas City, Kansas, men charged in double homicide during botched drug deal
Two Kansas City, Kansas, residents were arrested and charged Wednesday after two young men were fatally shot during a botched drug deal last weekend, police said.
Kenneth Flowers, 18, was charged in Wyandotte County with first-degree murder, along with aggravated battery, criminal discharge of a firearm and criminal damage to property, all of which are felonies. David Stephens, 56, was charged with distribution of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, both felonies.
Both Flowers and Stephens were allegedly involved in the shootout that killed Kansas City, Kansas residents Javon Brown, 19, and Delorean Jackson, 20 on April 5. KCK police officers responded around 9:30 p.m. to the 800 block of N. 70th Avenue and found both young men outside a home with fatal gunshot wounds.
Kansas City, Kansas police Chief Karl Oakman previously told reporters that Brown, Jackson and a third person had been attempting to buy narcotics and marijuana just before the shooting, and that they had made a plan in advance to rob the person selling them the drugs. Oakman said Brown and Jackson were killed when the attempted robbery escalated into a shootout between the would-be buyers and the would-be seller.
Court documents available as of Wednesday evening do not definitively identify Flowers or Stephens as either party Oakman described.
Flowers is currently being held in the Wyandotte County Detention Center on a $200,000 bond.
Stephens is also being held in the Wyandotte County Detention Center, on a $75,000 bond. Both will next appear in court on April 22, according to court records.
Brown and Jackson’s deaths were the fifth and sixth homicides reported in Kansas City, Kansas in 2025, according to data collected by The Star. At the same time last year, five homicides had been reported in the city, according to Star data.
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM.
