‘A great heart’: Family and friends hold vigil for man who was killed at 18th and Vine
More than 30 people gathered just steps away from where 22-year-old Marcus Stone was gunned down early Sunday, an act his mother called “senseless.”
Stone was identified by family members as Kansas City’s 88th victim of homicide this year.
Police responded to a shooting about 1:45 a.m. Sunday in a parking lot near 18th and Vine streets.
Keshawn Stone, 21, said his older brother was leaving a party when the shots rang out.
“He was protecting everybody around him,” Keshawn Stone said. “He was protecting his friends, he told them to run.”
Marcus Stone was pronounced dead at the scene. A second victim went to a hospital by private vehicle, the police department said.
Dozens of people lit candles as they tearfully embraced in the parking lot during a vigil Monday. As several people wept, others sat in front of framed photos of Marcus Stone that were propped up on the curb.
Salina Robinson said her son did not deserve to be killed.
“My boy — he was so good to everybody,” she said. “You would never think that a sweet person as Marcus would get shot down like that.”
He graduated from Ruskin High School in 2016, had a daughter and worked at Hy-Vee.
Robinson urged people to “learn how to talk to each other” and said gun possession laws should be more stringent.
The family was a victim to gun violence in 2005 when another son of Robinson’s was killed. She said his case also remains unsolved.
Robert Justus, who adopted three of Stone’s siblings, said he had “a great heart.” Justus said he had known Stone since he was about eight and that at 22, like many young adults in their early 20s, Stone was figuring out what he wanted to do in life.
Spencer Justus, Robert Justus’s son, said Stone was a mentor to him.
“It’s really hard when the one person you look up to, the one role model in life is taken away from you,” said Spencer Justus, 17. “It’s crazy that someone so close to you can be a victim of violence — someone so kind, someone so full of life.”
He recalled that the two would choreograph dances together, ride bikes and explore creeks.
“It’s hard to know that I’m not going to do that with him again,” Spencer Justus said.
Anyone with information may call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-8477.
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.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 5:27 PM.
