KCK man charged with assault after triple shooting at Rhythm & Booze bar
A 39-year-old man was charged with multiple felonies Friday after he allegedly shot three people inside the Rhythm & Booze bar in Kansas City in September, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
Prosecutors charged Kitce L. Massey, of Kansas City, Kansas, with three counts of first-degree assault and three counts of armed criminal action in connection to the shooting, which injured two men and a woman.
The shooting happened about 2:20 a.m. Sept. 16 in the bar located at 423 Southwest Boulevard.
Court records indicated it stemmed from a physical altercation between Massey and a 30-year-old man. The man told police he was trying to defend his girlfriend after he said Massey had disrespected her.
The groups split up, and Massey and his wife were escorted out, but later on, court records said Massey came back to the bar with a handgun and shot the 30-year-old man in the back. One of the victim’s friends, a 32-year-old man, was shot in the torso.
The victim’s girlfriend, a 24-year-old woman, told police she saw Massey point the gun at her boyfriend’s head and said she tried to jump on Massey. A bullet grazed her hand in the process.
Several witnesses in the bar and the victims identified Massey as the gunman.
Police obtained the license plate number of an SUV that was seen leaving the bar after the attack. Court records said the vehicle was registered to Massey’s wife.
In a recent interview with police, Massey said he was at the bar that night with his wife and some friends when a man confronted him on the bar’s patio. He told police one of the victims had pulled a gun on his wife and that they “beat the brakes off of him.”
Security escorted him outside after the altercation, and the couple got inside an SUV.
Massey said he started to drive away but grabbed his handgun and returned to the bar. Massey told police he fired shots in the direction of one of the victims because he felt disrespected and he was protecting himself and his wife, court records said.
Charges were filed Friday and Massey’s bond was set at $100,000.
A court date has not been scheduled.