Man was ‘mad’ at victim for way he spoke to relative before shooting: court documents
A Kansas City man allegedly fatally shot a man in June 2024 because he was angry with the way he spoke to a relative, according to court documents.
La’Dre Smallwood, 19, faces one count each of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, according to a Jackson County court document.
Officers with the Kansas City Police Department responded to the Wise Owl Brick House Apartments in the 1000 block of West 38th Street around 2:30 p.m. on June 24, 2024, department spokesperson Sgt. Phillip DiMartino told The Star at the time.
There, officers located 57-year-old Wayne Gordon on a landing between the first and second floors of the apartment building, according to a probable cause statement in support of Smallwood’s arrest. Gordon was pronounced dead at the scene.
A witness, who is related to Gordon, told officers she let him into the apartment building, where she opened the door for him, the probable cause statement said. She said Gordon was alone when he came to the apartment, but after opening the door she heard gunshots.
A second witness told officers she saw two men “hanging out” with the first witness, according to the probable cause statement. She said she heard two men say they were going to “pop” someone before she heard gunshots.
A third witness said Gordon had been out with the first witness the previous night, and that he believed the first witness stole a handgun from his vehicle, according to the probable cause statement. Gordon called the third witness on June 24 and told her he was going to the apartment of the first witness to get his gun back.
Officers retrieved 11 shell casings from the scene, court documents said.
The probable cause statement claims that on June 25, 2024, the first witness responded to KCPD’s Metro Patrol Division and requested to report an assault. The witness said she was assaulted by family members who claimed one of her relatives “had something to do with it.”
When officers asked for the relative’s name, the first witness refused to provide it to police, according to court documents.
Officers were able to identify Smallwood, then 18, as the relative through vehicle and cellphone records, according to court documents. Additionally, Smallwood was the only relative of the witness not incarcerated in the Kansas City area at the time of the incident.
Court documents state that at a later date, the second witness contacted officers and requested to amend her initial statement. The woman told officers that she was at the apartment the day of the fatal shooting.
The woman told officers the first witness had gone out with Gordon the night before the shooting, according to the probable cause statement. The first witness became drunk and called Smallwood to pick her up.
The second witness told officers that on the morning of June 24, 2024, the first witness “kept calling people asking about a gun and where it was,” court documents said. Smallwood came to the apartment, and the first witness said Smallwood had the gun.
Smallwood left and eventually returned to the apartment with a friend, according to the probable cause statement. Gordon eventually arrived at the apartment, and Smallwood allegedly handed a gun to the friend before meeting with Gordon outside the apartment with the first witness.
When Smallwood and the first witness came back to the apartment, the man was reportedly “mad” because of the way Gordon spoke to the first witness, according to court documents.
Smallwood then grabbed the gun from his friend and made statements implying he would shoot Gordon, court documents state.
Gordon came up to the apartment shortly after, the probable cause statement said. Gordon requested his gun, and Smallwood allegedly started shooting, the second witness told officers.
Smallwood is being held in the Jackson County Detention Center on a $300,000 cash-only bond, according to the jail’s inmate listing. He is set to appear for a bond review hearing on Dec. 11 and a preliminary hearing on Dec. 29, according to court documents.
This story was originally published December 9, 2025 at 4:09 PM.
