Teen accused of shooting 74-year-old Kansas City woman in her leg during break-in
.jpg "An 18-year-old from Grandview is charged with felony assault and other crimes for allegedly breaking into a Kansas City woman’s garage and shooting her three times in the leg after she confronted him.")
An 18-year-old is accused of assault and burglary after he allegedly broke into a garage in Kansas City’s Robandee South neighborhood on Thursday morning and shot a 74-year-old homeowner who confronted him.
Jamari N. Florio, of Grandview, was charged Friday in Jackson County Circuit Court with first-degree assault, armed criminal action and unlawful weapon use, all felony crimes. As of Tuesday he was being held in the Jackson County jail on a $150,000 bond.
According to charging documents, Kansas City police officers were dispatched around 9:20 a.m. Thursday to the 9600 block of Lane Avenue on a reported shooting. Inside the garage the responding officers found a 74-year-old woman on the ground with apparent gunshot wounds to her leg.
The woman told police she went to check the garage that morning because she heard her dog barking. The door was open and a man was standing at the entrance, she told police.
The woman told detectives she told the man to leave her property and he responded by telling her to go back in the house. As she approached him, she said, he pulled a handgun and shot her in the leg three times.
She yelled for her husband to come help as the man ran into a wooded area near Lane Avenue, according to court documents.
A perimeter was set up in the south Kansas City neighborhood to search for a man based on the physical description provided by the woman. Less than 15 minutes after the shooting, officers reported seeing Florio walking alongside 470 Highway underneath the power lines, according to charging documents.
Authorities allege Florio was seen throwing a black handgun to the ground as officers approached him. He was taken into police custody.
The gun was a .45 caliber Glock. Police allege they also found an ammunition magazine in a backpack Florio was carrying.
The gun was compared to four shell casings found in the driveway leading up to the garage. A Kansas City Police Crime Laboratory analyst matched the shell casings found at the scene to the gun that police say was in Florio’s possession during his arrest.
Detectives attempted to interview Florio but he declined to make a statement, according to court documents. Kansas City police obtained a search warrant to obtain DNA samples from Florio for comparison to other evidence gathered during the investigation.
During a police interview, the gunshot victim was shown a photo lineup that included Florio and was “unable to positively (identify)” him, according to the search warrant application seeking Florio’s DNA.
Court records did not list an attorney for Florio as of Tuesday.
