Independence man charged in northeast KC shooting that left woman dead, man wounded
An Independence man has been charged in a Monday night shooting that left a woman dead and sent a wounded man to the hospital in northeast Kansas City.
James Gregory, 28, was charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the killing of 36-year-old Michelle Capell, who was shot in the head near Independence and Indiana avenues. The man she was with suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
A witness told detectives the gunshots, which occurred about 11:15 p.m., came from inside a moving vehicle. Detectives obtained the license plate number of the vehicle after reviewing nearby surveillance video, according to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
That led detectives to Gregory, prosecutors said. They later found spent shell casings inside the vehicle used in the shooting and gunshot residue on Gregory’s shirt, according to detectives with the Kansas City Police Department.
In an interview with detectives, Gregory denied any involvement in the shooting.
Surveillance video of the shooting showed Capell and the wounded man standing on the sidewalk outside Eleos Coffee when the shots were fired from inside a car, said Dan Smith, founder of the coffee house.
The coffee house, which also does ministry work in the community, has been open for more than nine years at that location. But Smith said the violence he has seen on the block the last several months has been worse than in recent years.
“This really is kind of the forgotten area, and there are so many murders and so much robbery,” he said. “I think the city becomes numb.”
Including Capell, seven people have been killed within a couple blocks of that stretch of Independence Avenue this year, according to homicide data kept by The Star.
This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 3:57 PM.
