Kansas City mass shooting suspect went free on gun charge because of new Missouri law
A man who opened fire on a line of people waiting to get inside a Kansas City nightclub Sunday could have gone to prison years earlier on a weapons charge but recent changes in Missouri gun law helped him remain free, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Jahron Swift, 29, fatally shot 25-year-old Raeven Parks about 11:30 p.m. Sunday as she stood in line outside the 9ine Ultra Lounge, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Officers responding to the shooting in the 4800 block of Noland Road found a chaotic scene in the parking lot of the nightclub, and at least 15 people were reported wounded. It remained unclear days later how many were shot or injured by other means but several were hospitalized, some in critical condition.
A security guard shot and killed Swift, police said.
Swift had a recent criminal history that could have sent him to prison several years before Sunday’s shooting, according to court records.
In 2015, Jackson County prosecutors charged Swift with unlawful use of a weapon and possessing a controlled substance.
While that case was still working through the courts, Swift was arrested again in 2016 and was again charged with unlawful use of a weapon. However, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said she dismissed that charge after Missouri legislators approved a law that allows concealed weapons to be carried without a permit.
In March 2017 Swift pleaded guilty to the first weapons charge. He was given a suspended sentence with three years probation. Later, he was given compliance credit and his probation ended.
Baker said Tuesday her office had sought to have Swift’s bond and probation revoked but was unsuccessful.
Kansas City police and other law enforcement have repeatedly said the state’s weakened gun laws have made it difficult for them to remove illegal weapons from the streets.
“It’s like Prohibition. One day it’s illegal and the next day, it’s legal,’ Baker said Tuesday.
Baker said her office has dismissed as many as 150 unlawful weapon charges since the law changed in 2016.
On Tuesday, Mayor Quinton Lucas said it was “deeply concerning” that Swift “was allowed to continue carrying a firearm, even after multiple incidents proved that he shouldn’t.”
“Two families are grieving the loss of their loved ones this week over a crime that could’ve been prevented,” Lucas said in a statement to The Star. “I refuse to become immune to life lost to violent crime in Kansas City and will continue working each day to make our community a safer place to live for all.”
Lucas did not say whether he would take up the issue with members of the Missouri General Assembly. He also did not address Gov. Mike Parson’s apparent backing away from support for other “common sense” gun regulations.
In December, Parson met with several Missouri mayors to discuss possible state laws to keep handguns out of the hands of minors, domestic abusers and violent criminals. He told St. Louis Public Radio last week that gun control wasn’t on the table.
“One of the things me and the mayors agreed on was that we weren’t gonna to talk about gun control to speak of,” Parson told the radio station. “They knew where I was at on the issue; I knew where they were at.”
Multiple arrests
In Swift’s August 2015 case, prosecutors alleged he was riding in the back seat of a car when Kansas City police officers pulled the vehicle over after smelling what they suspected was marijuana, according to court records.
The officers instructed Swift and the other occupants to get out of the car. Swift immediately told the officers that he was carrying a gun.
Officers found a Springfield XD .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun on the seat next to where Swift. Officers also found a marijuana cigarette on the floor board near where Swift was seated, prosecutors allege.
While frisking the men, officers found that Swift had a silver and black semi-automatic magazine which they determined contained five live rounds of .45-caliber ammunition in his left front pants pocket.
Officers also found a baggie that contained five grams of a white powder, which field-tested positive as being cocaine and a second baggie that had an ounce of a green leafy substance that field-tested positive as being marijuana.
Swift had $1,142 in cash on him, according to court records.
Records from Swift’s 2016 weapons charge are not publicly available because the case was dismissed.
It wasn’t the first time prosecutors dropped charges against Swift. In 2013 a robbery case against him fell apart when victims refused to cooperate with authorities, Baker said.
During a November hearing of the Missouri Senate Committee on Public Safety, Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith told the panel the concealed carry restriction gave police “a point of intervention” to check whether someone is lawfully carrying or using a firearm, and if necessary, confiscate the gun.
“We’ve lost our point of intervention to intercede in some sort of crime that may be happening just minutes or hours down the road,” Smith said.
The aftermath
At a Monday news conference, Kansas City Police Chief Rick Smith said about 50 officers responded to the shooting. Other agencies pitched in to cover Kansas City police’s service calls during the aftermath.
It’s not known how many of the 15 injured were stuck by gunfire, but police have called it a mass shooting.
Police said three victims were critically injured. Seven patients went to Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, about six miles east of the shooting scene.
The shooting came hours after the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Tennessee Titans and earned a spot at Super Bowl LIV.
The nightclub appeared to be hosting a Chiefs celebration that night, according to a post on its Facebook page advertising a “Sold Out Sundays” event. Hundreds of people were there when gunfire erupted.
On Monday, the club posted a statement saying, “KC we believe we are much better than this circumstance and it is now time that we rise up as a city to do better for our community.”
Lucas said the club’s license could be temporarily revoked if city officials determine it could be considered a nuisance.
Detectives asked anyone who was there to contact the homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 1:45 PM.
