Prosecutors charge Kansas City man with murder in 18-year-old girlfriend’s fatal shooting
A Kansas City man is accused of fatally shooting his 18-year-old girlfriend inside their home in the Noble and Gregory Ridge neighborhood Wednesday morning.
Jackson County prosecutors on Thursday charged Ronell K. Garner, 26, with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of J’rya Cockrell, 18.
Garner was being held on a $250,000 cash bond in the county jail on Thursday.
Around 8:30 a.m., Kansas City police officers responded to a reported shooting in the 7400 block of College Avenue. Arriving officers were led inside the residence where Cockrell was found dead in a back bedroom of an apparent gunshot wound to her head, according to court documents.
Garner was taken into police custody at the shooting scene. He allegedly said “it was an accident” to police officers.
A witness told detectives Garner had come to his house a few blocks away and admitted to shooting Cockrell. The witness then drove Garner back to the area to meet with police, according to court documents.
Another witness said Garner and Cockrell were in a romantic relationship and were living together. Over the course of the relationship, the witness said Cockrell had discussed “multiple times” in the past that Garner pointed a gun at her.
The witness also told detectives of an assault one week earlier when Garner allegedly grabbed Cockrell by the hair and threw her around the room. At that time, the witness told police, Cockrell went to the hospital with a large cut above her left eye.
Kansas City police took a report for the incident. The witness told detectives Cockrell did not want to report the assault at first and had given a false name to police.
Garner was also arrested twice before for domestic assaults in 2019 and 2022, according to court documents.
During a police interview, Garner allegedly said he and Cockrell were wrestling over a gun when he aimed it at her and pulled the trigger. He told police he believed the gun was unloaded and did not intend to shoot her, according to court documents.
Garner made his initial appearance Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court. Online court records did not list an attorney for Garner.
