Kansas City man charged with first-degree murder in daylight shooting on East Side
A 23-year-old man is accused of fatally shooting 33-year-old Anthony Villarreal in Kansas City’s East Community Team South neighborhood last week.
Gerald R. Robinson II, of Kansas City, is charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Friday. Villarreal was found on March 25 in a grassy area just off the corner of 24th Street and Quincy Avenue.
According to court records, police found Villarreal with several gunshot wounds after they were dispatched in response to a reported shooting. He was taken by ambulance to a hospital and pronounced dead there.
Surveillance cameras had apparently captured much of the shooting event on video. Footage showed Villarreal walking near the 2400 block of Denver Avenue minutes before the shooting unfolded as a sedan rolled past and he started to run.
In the video, the car is seen pulling a U-turn toward Villarreal. A man is seen exiting the car, chasing after him, hopping over a fence, and shooting Villarreal several times.
A license plate and the car in the video matched one registered to Robinson, a detective wrote in charging documents. Police had an unrelated October auto accident on file where Robinson was listed as the driver, according to court records.
Robinson is currently on parole for burglary and attempted burglary, court records show. Detectives interviewed his probation officer who told them he was “90% sure” the surveillance pictures were of Robinson.
Police used the information from the probation officer to track Robinson’s address to the 2000 block of Van Brunt. A vehicle matching the description of the one used in the shooting was towed away from a nearby alleyway. Both the car and Robinson’s home were searched by detectives.
Inside the vehicle, investigators reported finding clothing that appeared to match the suspect’s plus Robinson’s ID and pieces of mail addressed to him, according to court records.
During an interview with police, Robinson allegedly said the person in photographs of the scene looked familiar, but Robinson denied it was him. He told detectives he did not want to speak with them anymore after further questioning, according to charging documents.
Robinson was being held without bond on Friday evening in the Jackson County Detention Center.
