23-year-old Kansas City man charged with murder for 2017 shooting on Troost Avenue
A 23-year-old Kansas City man has been charged with murder for the 2017 shooting death of a 30-year-old father of 12, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced Wednesday.
The defendant was identified in court records as Luis A. Reyes. Reyes is accused of fatally shooting Orlando Gentry in front of a Troost Avenue apartment building on the night of Sept. 19, 2017.
Witnesses at the time described seeing a Hispanic male sitting outside Gentry’s apartment, seemingly waiting for the victim to come out. When Gentry walked outside, witnesses said the male shot Gentry several times and then ran away.
Gentry’s 12-year-old stepson had called police that night to report the shooting, according to a previous report by The Star.
Nearly eight months after the killing, detectives received a tip from a person who had been robbed at gunpoint in an unrelated incident.
The victim, who reported the robbery in May 2018, said he knew the man who robbed him and identified him as Reyes, court records said.
While detectives were investigating the robbery, the victim told police about a confession Reyes allegedly made previously in regard to a homicide.
The victim said Reyes confessed to killing someone on 50th Street and Troost Avenue and said he felt bad about it, court records said. The confession was made a few weeks after Gentry was killed in the 5000 block of Troost Avenue.
Two witnesses re-interviewed last summer about the 2017 killing also pointed to Reyes as the suspected shooter.
The prosecutor’s office charged Reyes with first-degree murder and armed criminal action on Wednesday. His bond has been set at $250,000 cash.
Reyes remains in the Jackson County Detention Center for an unrelated incident. He declined to speak with police in an interview.
