New father slain on Prospect Ave.; police want help finding persons of interest

Jerel Price was going to be a great father. His big brother knew it by the way Price played with his nephews.

“Playing video games, football in the park, horsing around in the house . . . ,” Joe Price Jr. said. His little brother loved Joe Price’s 5- and 7-year-old boys.

Jerel Price was shot dead at the age of 27 just before midnight Tuesday in the 3500 block of Prospect Avenue.

The slain man’s 2-month-old baby boy will never experience the joy of his dad’s “goofy laugh and goofy voice,” Joe Price said. “A mother and a child have lost the father.”

Police Thursday released pictures from surveillance video near the shooting that show two people whom police say they want the public’s help identifying. They are considered persons of interest at this time, police said.

Jerel Price, who had earned a license as a pharmaceutical technician, worked in a warehouse, his brother said. Joe Price works as a server in a Brookside restaurant, and it was there he recently saw his little brother for the last time, being silly as usual.

“He sat in my section and got a fried chicken sandwich,” Joe Price said. “He was wearing his headphones. He said, ‘Am I going to get a family discount?’ and I said, ‘What are you going to tip me?’

“That’s my last memory.”

The memory of his laughter will last for anyone who knew him, he said. They’ll remember his kindness.

“They took away a valuable person to so many people,” he said. “They took him away. Jerel didn’t deserve that.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Kansas City Police Department Homicide Unit at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.

This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 5:55 PM.