Man accused of fatally shooting KC mother in car with baby and toddler in back seat
A 38-year-old man is charged with murder and nine other felonies in the fatal shooting of a woman whose body was found Saturday inside a parked car in Kansas City’s Ivanhoe Northeast neighborhood as two young children sat in the back seat.
Raymone Cunningham, of Kansas City, was charged Tuesday in Jackson County Circuit Court with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful weapon use, unlawful firearm possession, second-degree assault and child endangerment. He is accused of killing Jourdan Thompson, identified in court records as the mother of one of his children.
The daylight shooting unfolded shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday in the 3700 block of Olive Street, the same block as Cunningham’s listed residence. Kansas City police were dispatched to the area and found Thompson, 25, with a gunshot trauma to the head as an infant and toddler were buckled into the car.
Witnesses to the shooting included a woman who was shot in the back. She told detectives Cunningham, her cousin, and Thompson have a child in common and that she arranged for the two to meet by his residence to settle their differences.
As they were waiting for Cunningham to arrive, she told police she spoke with another relative there. She then saw Cunningham walk up to Thompson, as her hands were still on the steering wheel, grab her by the head and fire two gunshots, according to charging documents.
Another witness described seeing Cunningham park his green Chevy Corvette and hearing gunshots but did not report seeing a weapon. He told detectives he yelled “no” and saw Cunningham standing near the car before leaving the area.
Police considered Cunningham a person of interest based on witness statements and other information, including a review of traffic surveillance cameras in the immediate area of the neighborhood. Officers on surveillance pulled over a vehicle that Cunningham was a passenger in and searched the car where they found a Glock .45 and $17,100 in cash, according to court papers.
During a police interview, Cunningham allegedly admitted to shooting Thompson twice in the head. He said he was out getting food on Saturday when he received a text from Thompson saying she would be coming to his house.
Cunningham told detectives Thompson had threatened him in the past and that he heard the sound of a gun being cocked as he approached her vehicle. He said he saw a gun in Thompson’s lap after he shot her.
Detectives noted in court papers that there was no gun in her lap as Cunningham described, though one was found inside the vehicle’s glove box.
Cunningham told investigators he ditched his cellphone and sold his car after the shooting, according to court records.
Court records show Cunningham has a previous second-degree murder conviction stemming from another Kansas City killing in 2005.
Cunningham, who was 21 at the time, was one of two accused of killing 14-year-old Cortez D. White in the 3300 block of Benton on Mother’s Day over a dispute about a lawnmower, The Star previously reported.
Cunningham was sentenced to spend 15 years in a Missouri prison. He was released under supervision in 2018 and fully released in 2020.
A warrant for Cunningham’s arrest, which was served Tuesday, called for him to be held without bond. He was scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon. Court records on Wednesday did not list an attorney for Cunningham.
This story was originally published July 27, 2022 at 5:04 PM.
