‘Wrong place, wrong time:’ Man killed in what KC police now believe was drive-by shooting
The mother of Jesse Thomas believes that her son was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was killed in what Kansas City police now believe was a drive-by shooting.
“He was trying to be good,” said Sharie Preator, Thomas’ mother. “He didn’t really deserve that.”
Thomas died early Tuesday after he was struck by gunfire that was fired into a home the 6000 block of Indiana Avenue, which is just east of the Bruce R. Watkins Drive in the South Town Fork Creek neighborhood.
Two other adults in the house at the time of the shooting were uninjured.
“At this point, detectives are comfortable advising this incident was a drive-by shooting based on the facts gathered thus far,” said Officer Alayna Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department.
No suspect or suspect vehicle information was available. Detectives were still gathering information and getting witness statements, she said.
When police identified Thomas as a victim, a spokesman said that “detectives still very much need the public’s help with any information in this case.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Kansas City Police Department’s homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS Hotline.
Gave a friend a ride
Preator, who made funeral arrangements for her son on Friday, said she has a lot of unanswered questions about her son’s death.
Police haven’t been telling her anything because it’s an ongoing investigation, she said.
Prior to the shooting, Thomas had gone to his mother asking for $20 for gas for his car. They went to the gas station, where they put gas in and left.
He told her he was going to get his car fixed and that he was going to eat at friend’s house. While eating dinner, his friend asked for a ride to the house on Indiana and Thomas agreed.
“He’d do anything for anybody if they asked him,” Preator said.
What she’s heard is that while her son was at the home on Indiana, he saw what appeared to be teenagers break in and try to steal a car from a neighbor across the street. Her son went over with another person and helped get the teens away from the car.
They left in what she was told was a white Honda. They later returned and drove around the block a couple of times, she said.
“And then, finally, they started shooting at the house he was in,” she said.
Somehow, her son was struck by that gunfire. Among the many remaining questions she has is whether there were any delays in her son receiving medical care.
Police were called to the house shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday. When officers arrived, they found Thomas inside unresponsive.The officers rendered aid until emergency medical workers arrived and took over, police said.
Thomas’ killing marked the 119th homicide in Kansas City this year, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. There were 94 killings by this time last year, which ended as the second-deadliest year on record with 171 killings.
In 2020, 182 lives were lost, the most homicides ever recorded.
Trying to change his life
Thomas had gone through a rough patch recently and was trying to rebuild his life. Three or four years ago, he was injured in another random drive-by shooting as he was walking home.
The last two years, he was sick with a rare form of asthma that kept him home. Last year, he was hospitalized and even placed on life support, she said.
“We thought we lost him then, but he pulled through it,” Preator said.
While in the hospital, he lost his house and lost everything, she said. Once he got out, he pretty much had to start over.
Thomas was a father of two children, one of whom died about three months after his birth 10 years ago. He is survived by a preteen daughter.
“Anything that little girl wanted, he made sure she got,” Preator said.
A GoFundMe fundraising page has been created to help his mother cover funeral costs. Any donations left over were going to be given to his daughter. By Friday afternoon, nearly $2,500 of a $10,000 goal had been raised.
Graveside funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Mt. Washington Cemetery in Independence, Preator said.
Thomas hopes police are able to find whoever is responsible for the death of her son, as well as provide answers to her unanswered questions.
“It is just getting so ridiculous out here,” she said. “There’s just so many people using guns and that violence it doesn’t need to happen.”
