Two charged with shooting into downtown Kansas City apartment ‘The Grand’
Two men are charged for their alleged involvement in shooting into a downtown Kansas City apartment over the weekend.
Sincere D. Miller and Kimoni Williams each face one count of unlawful use of a weapon and one count of armed criminal action, according to a news release from the Jackson County prosecutor’s office.
Police working off-duty at The Power and Light District responded to the area of 1125 Grand Blvd. on reports of gunshots around 11:30 p.m. Friday.
According to court records, a detective working with the Law Enforcement Resource Center immediately began combing through city cameras and allegedly saw Miller, Williams and another person walking through a parking lot between East 12th and 13th Street.
Miller was allegedly holding an AK-47 style rifle with one magazine loaded with eight rounds. Williams was allegedly holding a 9mm handgun with 42 rounds of ammo, according to court records.
Multiple officers heard shots and saw Miller allegedly shooting towards The Grand apartment complex while standing outside a silver 2010 Mercedes Benz C300.
No one inside the building was injured, but one person outside received non-life threatening injuries, officials said. Three apartment units at The Grand were struck by gunfire, according to court records. Williams and Miller were taken into custody without incident.
According to court documents, both defendants told police they heard gunshots nearby and saw a green laser beam on themselves and Miller’s daughter, who was in the backseat of the Mercedes. Feeling threatened, they began firing into the building, according to court documents.
City camera footage showed the defendants entering their vehicle and a green laser beam pointed at them prior to the shooting, according to court documents.
“I understand the defendants may have felt threatened, especially seeing their child targeted by a laser,” said Prosecutor Johnson in a release. “However, their response of allegedly firing blindly into an occupied apartment building endangered countless innocent lives.”
Johnson added that Miller and Williams had other alternatives like fleeing, taking cover or calling police, instead of shooting.
“While I have empathy for their fear in that moment, we will not tolerate this kind of dangerous decision-making with firearms,” Johnson said.
