Kansas City man accused of killing 21-year-old woman after dispute over missing phone
A 21-year-old man faces six felonies related to a shooting that killed one woman and injured another in Kansas City’s Santa Fe neighborhood on Sunday afternoon.
Brandon Bowman, of Kansas City, is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault, unlawful weapon use and three counts of armed criminal action, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced Monday. He is accused of killing 21-year-old Solana Sagun and injuring her friend by shooting into their vehicle amid a dispute over Sagun’s missing cellphone and charger.
According to court records, Kansas City police were first alerted to a shooting in the area of 31st Street and Prospect Avenue at 1:57 p.m. A 911 call came two minutes later from one of the victims, whose name is withheld from court records, saying she and her friend had been shot by a man named Brandon.
Responding officers found the two victims inside a bullet-riddled Jeep Laredo near the intersection of 27th Street and Montgall Avenue. There were holes on the passenger-side door and the front passenger window was shattered. Both victims were taken away by emergency medical personnel, and Sagun was pronounced dead at Truman Medical Center shortly after arriving there.
The surviving gunshot victim told police she and Sagun had been looking for Bowman in regard to Sagun’s missing cellphone and charger. She said that Sagun had gone on a date with Bowman the night before and had awoken to find her property missing.
The women were searching for Bowman’s residence near the area of 29th Street and Montgall when they spotted his car. The witness said a man identified as Bowman then came outside and pointed a gun in their direction.
The witness told police Sagun yelled at Bowman that she was unafraid of the gun. That’s when he allegedly began opening fire on the vehicle, and the witness sped away, according to court records.
Police located a car registered to Bowman in the alley of apartment buildings near the reported shooting scene. Investigators then found three shell casings on the sidewalk in front of Bowman’s residence in the 3000 block of Montgall Avenue.
Police used a P.A. system to ask that Bowman exit the home, and he was taken into custody there. A fourth shell casing was found on the front porch.
During an interview with police, Bowman allegedly said he met with Sagun on Saturday night after they had spent the past few weeks talking over Facebook. He said he left her inside the hotel while she was still asleep the next morning, and started to receive messages later that day accusing him of taking her phone.
Bowman said he had accidentally taken her cellphone and dropped it off at a liquor store near 27th Street and Prospect Avenue. He said he was later alerted by his mother that someone outside his residence in a Jeep was ramming his parked car, according to court records.
Bowman allegedly admitted to firing into the vehicle because “he felt threatened by them and did not want them to make it to his residence,” a detective wrote in court papers.
In addition to witness statements, Kansas City police found video surveillance from the shooting. The video allegedly shows Bowman exit his front door, point a black handgun toward the roadway and fire a single shot. Then the video shows him walking toward the sidewalk and returning to the house with the firearm in hand, according to court records.
This story was originally published March 7, 2022 at 7:51 PM.
