Ball cap left at deadly KC nightclub shooting leads to charges against KCK man
Two days after a fatal shooting inside a Kansas City nightclub, prosecutors have charged a Kansas City, Kansas, man with two counts of second-degree murder.
Dontae M Brooks was taken into custody Monday. In addition to the two murder counts, he’s charged with four counts of armed criminal action, one count of first-degree assault and two weapons crimes.
Brooks is charged in the death of Eboni Silas, 29, and Tishauna Ballard, 24, who were inside the club at the time of the shooting. Two others were injured in the early Sunday shooting, including a man who was shot in the face and chest and is hospitalized in stable condition, authorities said.
“Every person who walks into a nightclub, restaurant, concert, anywhere, deserves to make it home safely,” said Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson. “Because of the alleged senseless and reckless decisions of one individual, two women didn’t make it home to their families and friends Sunday morning.”
Prosecutors say surveillance cameras helped lead them to the charges. The footage shows a man wearing a red baseball cap with a capital “A” on the front entering the Status Nightclub. The footage also shows an unknown male whisper into the suspect’s ear, a court affidavit explaining the charges said.
“Shortly after this, the suspect raises his right arm with a handgun in his hand and points it towards the area where a heavyset black male in a white t-shirt is dancing,” the document said. “Apparent muzzle flash is seen coming from the handgun.”
Many inside the club begin to run as others drop to the ground, witnesses told The Star.
The charging document further stated that as the suspect turned and began to flee, “he falls to the ground and his baseball cap falls off.”
“The suspect then stands up and exits the club, leaving his baseball cap behind,” it said.
Police at the scene recovered the cap.
According to a release from the prosecutor’s office: “DNA evidence from the cap matched the defendant.”
Records show that Brooks is currently on federal supervised release in Kansas for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a narcotics crime.
“His supervising officer, was sent a screenshot from the video surveillance footage which captures the black male in the distinctive jacket and red baseball cap with the capital “A” on the front,” the court affidavit said.
Brooks was “positively identified,” the record shows.
This story was originally published February 17, 2026 at 10:40 AM.
