20-year-old Kansas City man charged in fatal shooting at Price Chopper in Northland
A 20-year-old Kansas City man was charged with second second-degree felony murder in the fatal shooting of a man during an alleged drug deal outside a Northland Price Chopper, according to the Clay County prosecutor’s office.
Blade Elliott was also charged with attempted armed robbery and two counts of armed criminal action in the death of 21-year-old Trinton Phillips on June 8 at the Cosentino’s Price Chopper at 9717 N. Ash Ave.
The shooting happened in the parking lot shortly before 5:30 p.m. Phillips was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to court documents:
A witness told police that Phillips had set up a drug transaction involving marijuana in the grocery store’s parking lot and had been in contact with the other person via Snapchat.
A dark-colored sedan with five people inside parked next to the Kia Spectra that Phillips and the witness were in. A man left the driver’s side of the sedan and got into the back seat of the Kia. Another man got out of the sedan and paced along the passenger side of the Kia.
The man in the backseat of the Kia reached for a bag of marijuana, which was near Phillips. When the witness attempted to stop him, the man fired three to four shots. He and the man pacing outside the Kia then fled in the sedan.
When police searched the Kia, they found three 9mm Luger shell casings, a green leafy substance and about $200 in cash. No weapons were found inside the vehicle or on the victim.
Police used surveillance video from surrounding businesses to identify the sedan as a black Volkswagen. One of the videos shows two Cosentino’s employees walking near the cars collecting shopping carts when they both run away.
Detectives obtained Phillips’ cellphone and saw his last viewed Snapchat message was from a person using the name “itstheblade.”
Police received a tip that a person whose first name was Blade and who also went by the name Toby Mitchell may have been involved in the homicide. From that information, detectives determined Blade’s last name was Elliott.
Last Friday, police were conducting surveillance at Elliott’s south Kansas City apartment when a black Volkswagen Jetta pulled into the complex. The driver got out and was met by Elliott. They went inside and when they returned 15 minutes later, police took Elliott and the other man into custody.
Police searched Elliott’s apartment and allegedly found a handgun and ammunition that was similar to that found at the crime scene. Ballistic tests later allegedly determined that shell casings found at the crime scene were fired in the handgun found at Elliott’s residence.
While being questioned, the man taken into custody with Elliott told police that he was with Elliott at the time of the homicide and that they had gone there to buy marijuana. The man said he heard gunshots after Elliott got into the other vehicle. Elliott returned and they drove away.
The man denied knowing what Elliott’s plans were. The man said he hadn’t talked to Elliott until the day they were taken into custody at Elliott’s apartment. The man said he had seen his Volkswagen on the news and went over to convince Elliott to “do the right thing and fix the situation.”
Another witness in the vehicle at the time of the homicide gave a similar account of what had happened.
While being questioned by police, Elliott denied any involvement in the homicide. He told police that at the time of the killing, he would have been home eating dinner.
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
