Kansas City man pleaded guilty, sentenced to 25 years in fatal 2023 shooting
A 33-year-old Kansas City man pleaded guilty last week in a fatal 2023 shooting and was sentenced to 25 years in prison, according to court records.
Tamon D. Daniel pleaded guilty in Jackson County Circuit Court to one count each of second-degree murder and first-degree assault, and two counts of armed criminal action in the death of 21-year-old Jaden James in November 2023. Another man was injured in the shooting.
Jackson County Judge Jerri J. Zhang then sentenced Daniel to 22 years on the murder conviction, 15 years on the first-degree assault and three years for each count of armed criminal action.
Zhang ordered the sentences for murder and assault to run concurrently, meaning Daniel will serve both sentences at the same time. The two three-year sentences for armed criminal action will also run concurrently with each other, but consecutively to the murder and assault sentences. As a result, Daniel will serve a total of 25 years in prison.
After the plea, prosecutors dismissed an additional count of armed criminal action and one count of unlawful use of a weapon. Daniel was scheduled to face a jury trial this week.
According to court documents, police responded about 4:15 p.m. Nov. 28, 2023, to the 4900 block of Heritage Avenue in Kansas City’s Little Blue Valley neighborhood.
Daniel waved down arriving officers and told them he had shot someone. When police arrested him, they found an AR-15-style pistol and a cell phone next to him. Police found James, who had been shot multiple times, dead in a nearby vacant lot.
During questioning, Daniel told police he drove to his sister’s apartment complex to protect her. There, he encountered two men he believed to have kidnapped her. Daniel said they pointed guns at him, and he chased them down with his car after they ran from him, according to court documents.
After crashing his car, Daniel said he shot one of the men four to eight times before walking up a hill and turning himself over to authorities.
Police also questioned Daniels sister, who said she had been kidnapped elsewhere in Kansas City the day before. She said she saw two men in a car who resembled those who had taken her against her will. The names of the suspects she provided, however, did not match the victims in the shooting.
