Victim killed after saying he didn’t feel safe in KC. Man now charged in murder
Prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man with murder after a shooting left one man dead in Kansas City’s Northeast area, according to court documents.
The Jackson County Prosecutor charged Demarion J’Von Nichols with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the killing of 21-year-old Tracy Williams outside a convenience store in March.
Prosecutors had filed charges against Nichols under seal in mid-May, but they were unsealed after his arrest last week. Nichols was being held in the Jackson County jail without bond.
Police responded at about 7:30 p.m. on March 26 to the shooting in the 3700 block of St. John Avenue. Arriving officers found Williams, who had been shot multiple times, in the parking lot of the convenience store. Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.
According to court documents, a witness told police that she had known Williams for about two weeks. The day before his death, Williams told the witness that he didn’t feel safe and he wanted to move to Georgia.
Shortly before the shooting, the witness picked up Williams and drove him to the store. While Williams was in he store, the witness stayed in the car. While Williams was in the store, a black car with a heavily damaged rear bumper backed into the parking space next to the witness.
The witness told police a man then got out armed with a handgun and an extended magazine. Williams then exited the store, and as he walked past, the man, later identified as Nichols, shot Williams, according to court documents.
The witness ducked down and then looked up; Nichols was staring at the witness. The witness feared Nichols would shoot her, too.
Surveillance video captured the shooting, as well as the Kansas license plate that was on the car, a Ford Fiesta. The footage showed that Nichols allegedly continued to shoot Williams after he fell between the two vehicles. Nichols then got in the Ford and fled.
During the investigation, crime scene investigators found 11 spent .45-caliber shell casings.
Detectives were able to connect the defendant to the shooting through the use of surveillance video, as well as social media and tracing information from his cell phone that placed him at the scene at the time of the shooting.
