Accused killer remains at large, charged in 2017 shooting of Kansas City father of 4

Jackson County prosecutors on Thursday filed charges in the October 2017 fatal shooting of Marco Green, a father of four, in south-central Kansas City.

William L. Johnson, 28, was charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Johnson was not in custody Thursday afternoon, prosecutors said.

Green, also 28, was shot to death outside the East Hills Village Apartments in the 7600 block of Monroe Avenue.

Surveillance video showed a Nissan Altima involved in the shooting and Kansas City police detectives were able to link that car to Johnson, according to court documents filed Thursday.

Two different types of shell casings were found at the scene of the homicide, according to the documents, including several .45-caliber casings.

During the investigation, police learned from a witness that Johnson owned a .45-caliber handgun and used to shoot guns on property in rural Kansas.

Some .45-caliber shell casings found on that property were tested and were found to match shell casings from the homicide scene, the documents allege.

Before he was shot, Green, a carpenter, was rehabbing a house that he had planned to turn into permanent home for his four children and their mother in south Kansas City.

Friends pulled together and finished the work, and Green’s family is living there now.

The home had eased some of the pain of Green’s death, and the filing of criminal charges is another, long-awaited relief, said Chuck Villanueva, a friend who helped organize the house project.

“It’s just a long process,” he said of the police investigation. “As long as they do it right and get the people, that’s what matters.”

Green’s family is doing well in their new home, he said, but the violence that took Green, and which continues in the shootings across the city, is taking a heavy toll.

“I want all this violence to stop,” he said. “(The shooting of Green) hit hard and it affected a lot of people, more than anyone knows.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 2:48 PM.