‘I saw the gun, I saw the shot’: Witness describes fatal shooting in east KC

A woman who saw a fatal shooting in east Kansas City on Sunday couldn’t even tell why the men in the car and the man about to die on the street were arguing.

“Can you take that argument away,” she said, hoping to restore some peace in the 1400 block of White Avenue.

On Monday, police identified the victim as Curtis Andre Presley, 21.

But then one of the men among several inside a green Chevrolet got out and fired into the man’s chest, the witness said.

“I saw the gun,” she said. “I saw the shot ... I don’t understand why people want to kill. For no reason at all. A young man got shot for no reason.”

The woman said she called 911 — it was about 3 p.m. — and police came to find Presley with a fatal gunshot wound lying on the sidewalk. The woman is not being named because she is a witness to a crime.

Police believe that the Chevrolet was abandoned, left one block west on Topping Avenue.

The shooting marked the third homicide in Kansas City over a period of 24 hours, adding to what has been a violent month, with at least 15 people slain in Kansas City since Aug. 1.

Detectives “are exhausted,” Kansas City Police spokesman Capt. Lionel Colon said. “They are frustrated, along with everyone else in the community.”

Police asked anyone with information to call the Police Department Homicide Unit at 816-234-5043 or call the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-8477.

This story was originally published August 19, 2018 at 4:36 PM.