Three KC men charged for shooting into homes, vehicles after posting on Instagram

Three alleged members of a Kansas City street gang face charges related to illegal weapon use and property damage for their roles in several July shootings where homes and vehicles were damaged, but people were uninjured.

Julian Chavarria, 19, and Antonio Lopez-Hernandez, 18, both face one count each of unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action, and first-degree property damage. Alexis Vega-Martinez faces one count of unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.

Chavarria is being held on a $150,000 cash bond, while Vega-Martinez and Lopez Hernandez are being held without bond. Lopez-Hernandez and Chavarria are also suspects in a separate July 16 shooting, records say.

The three men are all admitted members of the 18th Street gang, records say, which allegedly “engage in violence, intimidation, and drug trafficking across the city.”

Kansas City police responded to three separate shootings between the evening of July 12 and the early morning of July 13, according to court records. Shots were fired into occupied residences, some with juveniles inside, damaging five homes and four unoccupied vehicles.

Court records redacted the locations of the shootings.

Surveillance footage caught a gray 2009 Hyundai Accent entering and leaving the area of each shooting. The defendants were identified through area surveillance footage in the Hyundai and from social media.

137 total spent shell casings were recovered from the crime scenes and in the suspect vehicle, all consistent with the same weapons.

Victims from the first two shootings gave investigators Lopez-Hernandez’s name, along with a video shared to an Instagram account under the username “18gritter” posted near the time of the first shooting. Through previous investigations, detectives knew the account belonged to Lopez-Hernandez, who regularly posts himself and his associates with firearms and gang-related references, records say.

The video shows the three men with two handguns, a Glock 27 .40 caliber handgun and a tan frame Palmetto Armory 5.7 Rock handgun, both with attachments, and in black clothing. Another victim gave officers a screenshot of Lopez-Hernandez’s Instagram account taken in between the second and third shootings, allegedly showing the men with guns at an Express Stop gas station.

Scenes of the shootings

On July 12 at approximately 6:02 p.m., officers responded to a call of shots fired into a residence. The victim, who said he was inside during the shooting and uninjured, found damage in his home and to his vehicle. The vehicle, a white 2014 Dodge Challenger, suffered $12,362 worth of damage according to the victim’s repair estimate.

The victim told investigators his vehicle was tagged with gang-related graffiti in July 2024. The graffiti, recognized by investigators as specific to the 18th Street gang, allegedly included Lopez-Hernandez’s nickname of “Leroy”. The writing style was identical to multiple other documented graffiti tags in the past two years, records say.

34 spent 9mm shell casings were collected by investigators from the street directly in front of the residence and one 5.7mm caliber spent shell was found west of the 9mm shell casings, court records say.

Surveillance video from neighbors shows a gray Hyundai Accent sedan slow down in front of the home with smoke seen from the passenger side window and shots fired into the Dodge Challenger and the front of the home.

On July 13 around 12:15 a.m., officers were dispatched to another home regarding shots fired into a residence. Three uninjured occupants heard gunshots before seeing gunfire damage in their home. One victim told investigators the shots sounded like an automatic weapon was used, records say.

Three hours later, around 3:40 a.m., officers were called back to the home for gunfire damage in a bedroom window where the two boys were residing. 31 9mm spent shell casings, five 5.7mm spent shell casings, and one .40 caliber spent shell casing were found at the scene.

Another uninjured victim, one house east, told officers he was sitting on his front porch when he saw three men walking west, one of whom was holding a gun. The victim, aware of the earlier shooting, went inside his home where he heard gunshots and found gunshot damage in his home.

16 9mm spent shell casings, 19 .40 caliber spent shell casings, and 19 5.7mm caliber spent shell casings were found at an intersection near the shootings.

Later in the morning, another home that contained eight people, including three juveniles, and two vehicles suffered gunfire damage authorities believe occurred during the prior shootings. Six 9mm spent shell casings were found near the scene.

Owners of a parked vehicle also reported gunfire damage from earlier incidents to police.

On July 17, a homeowner told police his home was shot into at 3 p.m. the day before while his sister and her two children were inside. The homeowner gave investigators a bag of spent shell casings as evidence. 17 5.7mm and 11 .40 caliber spent shell casings were recovered.

A neighbor supplied police surveillance video that showed the sounds sounds of two gunshots and a silver Chevrolet Malibu accelerating away. The vehicle is known by police as being routinely driven by Vega-Martinez, court records say.

Bringing suspects into custody

Missouri license plate readers and city surveillance cameras identified the gray Hyundai Accent entering or leaving the vicinity of the shootings during the time frames of all three shootings.

Around 2:43 p.m., officers towed the vehicle on the street near its registered address. During the tow, a live 5.7mm caliber round of ammunition was found next to the vehicle’s rear passenger side tire. A search of the sedan found six spent 9mm shell casings, live 9mm ammunition, and court documents related to a 2023 criminal case in Fremont County, Iowa.

Forensic testing matched the .40 and 5.7mm caliber shell casings to another shooting on July 16, a case in which Lopez-Hernandez and Chavarria are suspects. The two men posted themselves on Facebook and Instagram with the handguns used in the crimes and other handguns, spanning from July 12 to Aug. 9.

Chavarria and Lopez-Hernandez were taken into custody at their workplace, where officers allegedly found the tan frame Palmetto Armory 5.7mm handgun in Chavarria’s waistband. Chavarria told investigators he bought the weapon on the street and had possessed it for a week.

In a search of Lopez-Hernandez’s home, officers found the black clothing he wore during the alleged shootings, gun ammunition, and a “Glock switch” attachment that allows the handgun to be fired like an automatic weapon.

Detectives also discovered a Glock 30S .45 caliber handgun that was reported stolen to Blue Springs police in June 2022. Lopez-Hernandez claimed he found the weapon the ground following a police vehicle pursuit three months ago, court records say.

Lopez-Hernandez told investigators he doesn’t shoot up houses because it would violate gang rules. Chavarria denied knowing or hearing about the alleged shooting incidents, at first, but later allegedly explained the events of each case.

Vega-Martinez repeatedly stated police have the wrong car, the wrong people, and the wrong group, court records state.

This story was originally published August 14, 2025 at 4:32 PM.