Victim appeared unconscious before fatal shooting in KC apartment, witness says
A 27-year-old Grandview man accused of fatally shooting a man in his Kansas City apartment in January has been charged with second-degree murder.
Prosecutors filed the murder charge, as well as armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm charges, against Kaveon Cottonham in Jackson County Circuit Court on Friday.
The charges were sealed at the request of prosecutors until Cottonham could be arrested, and they were unsealed Monday. He is in custody and is being held without bond, according to jail and court records.
Police identified the victim of the Jan. 14 shooting at an apartment in the 6400 block of Manchester Avenue as Alex Benson, 22.
Shortly after the shooting, police found Cottonham at the QuikTrip at 8733 East 63rd St. in Raytown, also suffering from gunshot trauma, according to court documents. Cottonham’s girlfriend said she brought him to the apartments earlier so he could pick up his ID, and when he returned to the vehicle, he told her he had been shot. She drove to the gas station and called 911 for help.
Cottonham was taken to an area hospital for treatment, and he allegedly declined to cooperate with the investigation, police said.
Police went to the Manchester Avenue apartments, and there they found the victim, who was declared dead at the scene.
Cottonham could be seen at the property on surveillance footage, and a witness later identified him as the man who had shot the victim, police said.
A witness told police in an interview in March that he was in the area and received a call from the victim telling him to come get Cottonham because “he was there and was acting weird,” a detective wrote in court documents.
The witness said he and two other men he was with went to the apartment, where he alleged he found Cottonham on top of the victim in the victim’s bedroom, with Cottonham allegedly striking the victim in the head with elbow strikes. The victim appeared to be unconscious, the witness said.
The witness said he attempted to pull Cottonham off the victim, but said he couldn’t because of the other man’s size and strength. The witness said Cottonham allegedly pulled a gun from the victim’s waistband, held it to the victim’s head, “looked back at him and smirked just before he fired the gun into the victim’s face.”
He then allegedly turned and pointed the gun at the witness, who in turn pulled a gun and fired at him in self-defense, he said. Cottonham left the apartment, and the witness attempted to help the victim before realizing there was nothing he could do for him, the detective wrote.
Cottonham was scheduled to make an initial appearance in court Monday afternoon.
Cottonham was previously convicted of an involuntary manslaughter charge for a 2017 car crash that killed a 9-year-old boy, according to court records.
This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 5:10 PM.
