Man accused of murdering 50-year-old who thwarted Kansas City carjacking
Jackson County prosecutors have charged a 30-year-old man with murder in the killing of another man who tried to stop an armed carjacking on Kansas City’s East Side.
Osvaldo Rangel, of Kansas City, Kansas, is accused of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the shooting death of 50-year-old Philip Croft. Records showed Rangel was being held Monday in the Jackson County jail on a $150,000 bond.
On Sept. 30, shortly before 6 a.m., police officers were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 2000 block of Wheeling Avenue in Kansas City’s Central Blue Valley and Park Tower Gardens neighborhood.
Croft was found partially underneath a Hummer H2 SUV. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witnesses told police a masked gunman had approached the Hummer, which was occupied by three people, and demanded the keys. The driver said the three were stopped in a parking space when the gunman tried to rob them.
One of the passengers recognized the masked gunman as Rangel by his voice, according to court documents. She got out, demanded he leave her friends alone and pulled off his mask, witnesses told police.
The gunman appeared agitated and threatened to fire, the driver said. Then Croft came up and pointed a gun at the armed carjacker.
The driver exited the Hummer and ran to the passenger side to help a third person get out. That’s when he heard gunshots and began ducking for cover.
Homicide detectives obtained surveillance footage of the shooting from a private security company. In the video, Croft appears to happen upon the armed confrontation, get out of his vehicle and approach the group, according to an affidavit filed by a Kansas City police detective.
Croft briefly retreated back to his vehicle, parked it next to the Hummer and returned. Rangel is then seen shooting as Croft falls to the ground, the affidavit says.
Afterward, authorities allege Rangel fled in a dark-colored sedan that he had driven to the apartment complex.
On Oct. 31, Rangel was taken into police custody. He was interviewed by Kansas City detectives the following day.
During the interview, Rangel allegedly said he knew one of the involved witnesses and had visited that person’s residence at an unspecified time in the past.
He told detectives of an incident involving a “bunch of cars” the last time he was there, according to court documents, and said he left shortly after arriving because he did not know what was going on.
Prosecutors filed criminal charges against Rangel on Monday and he apparently had yet to make his initial court appearance, according to online court records. Records did not list a defense attorney for Rangel.
This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 8:20 PM.
