Man dies days after late-December shooting, adding to KC’s record 2020 homicide count
A 19-year-old man who was wounded in a shooting Dec. 28 died four days later, police said Monday, adding another victim to Kansas City’s grim 2020 homicide count.
Officers found the man, Abdulbasid Yassin, unresponsive on the ground when they responded to a shooting call just after 8 p.m. near Prospect Avenue and East 8th Street, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Yassin was taken to a hospital, where he was in critical condition. No one was taken into custody.
Detectives were told Yassin died of his injuries Jan. 1.
Sgt. Jake Becchina, a police spokesman, said the killing is being investigated as a 2020 homicide because the shooting occurred then.
Police on Monday also said detectives are investigating the death of Chayne Pearl, 27, as a 2020 homicide. She was found cut about 10 p.m. Dec. 31 near Interstate 435 and Truman Road and died Jan. 1. Previously, police wrongly called the homicide the first of 2021.
The deaths mean Kansas City’s homicide count for 2020 — already at a record — increased to 182, according to data maintained by The Star, which includes seven police shootings.
The last time Kansas City saw anywhere close to as many homicides was 2017, when the city recorded 155 killings, including four fatal police shootings. Before that, the homicide record came in 1993 when 153 people were killed.
Last year also likely marked Missouri’s deadliest ever for gun violence.
At least 670 people were shot and killed. The historic level of homicides was driven by the state’s two largest cities, with 266 gun homicides in St. Louis and 162 in Kansas City, The Star reported Sunday.
Police asked anyone with information about Yassin’s death to call the homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
Detectives could use the public’s help if anyone was in the area, Becchina said. He hoped “someone saw something.”
