KC man sentenced for gun tied to Chiefs’ rally shooting, despite never firing
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- Judge sentenced Fedo A. Manning to 5.5 years for firearm trafficking conspiracy.
- One of Manning's illegally purchased guns was recovered at the Chiefs rally shooting.
- Multiple co-defendants received prison terms or probation for related gun trafficking.
A federal judge has sentenced a Kansas City man to more than five years in federal prison for illegally trafficking firearms and making straw purchases. Police later found several of the guns at crime scenes, including one recovered after the mass shooting at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally.
U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips sentenced 24-year-old Fedo A. Manning to five years and six months in prison without parole, followed by three years of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.
Prosecutors linked Manning and two other Kansas City men to guns that had been illegally purchased through straw buyers, which were recovered after the mass shooting at the Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally on Feb. 14, 2024. Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old Johnson County mother and local DJ, was killed in the shooting, and nearly two dozen others were injured by gunfire.
In a separate case, Chaelyn Hendrick Groves and Ronnel Dewayne Williams Jr. each pleaded guilty in the summer of 2024 to conspiracy to make false statements in the purchase of a gun.
Williams allegedly purchased the firearm for Groves, who attended the gun show with Williams but was too young to buy the weapon legally. Police found the gun along Pershing Road after the mass shooting.
In January 2024, a federal judge sentenced both Groves and Williams to five years of probation.
Prosecutors did not accuse the three men of being among the shooters, but rather said they were involved in the illegal purchase of some of the guns found at the scene.
Role to serve as straw purchaser
Meanwhile, Manning pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to illegally traffic firearms by agreeing to sell guns to people prohibited from possessing them under federal law.
According to the plea agreement, Manning and his co-conspirators trafficked at least 22 firearms to people who were known felons or sold guns that had been converted into unregistered machine guns.
Manning agreed in the plea that his role in the conspiracy was to serve as a straw purchaser, buying firearms from licensed dealers so the guns could later be sold by co-conspirators to those prohibited from possessing the weapons, according to the news release.
Investigators discovered that Manning purchased at least 40 guns from licensed dealers, 33 of which were Anderson Manufacturing Model AM-15 firearms, a line of AR-15 style, semi-automatic rifles.
Police recovered at least seven of the firearms that he purchased during investigations of crimes in the Kansas City metropolitan area, Manning acknowledged in the plea agreement.
One of those guns recovered, a .223-caliber Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 pistol, was found at the scene of the mass shooting at the rally.
The firearm was found along a wall with a backpack, next to two AR-15-style firearms and other backpacks, according to the news release. Because the pistol was in the “fire” position with 26 live rounds in a 30-round magazine, it may have been fired several times before being discarded, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Others plead guilty to conspiracy
Manning’s brothers, Antonio Manning and Sheron Manning, also pleaded guilty to a similar charge of conspiracy to traffic firearms illegally. Sheron Manning also pleaded guilty to illegal trafficking of a firearm that had been converted into an unregistered machine gun.
Antonio Manning was sentenced earlier this month to four years in prison without parole, followed by three years of supervised release. Sheron Manning was sentenced in May to four years, nine months in prison, also without parole, followed by three years of supervised release.
Another co-defendant, Dehohuan Mietz Huntly, pleaded guilty in February 2024 to conspiracy to illegally traffic firearms, possessing an unregistered machine gun, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced in June 2024 to six years in federal prison without parole, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
In April, Michael Dewayne Hardy pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic firearms illegally and to illegally trafficking a firearm that had been converted into a machine gun. Sentencing is set for Sept. 9, according to court documents.
