Independence man charged with murder in Sunday stabbing in Downtown KC
An Independence man accused of stabbing another man in Downtown Kansas City early Sunday morning allegedly told investigators he believed the man had previously threatened him with a gun.
Clinton J. Kelly III, 33, was charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in Jackson County court Monday in the stabbing of 33-year-old Ronnie Medina, according to a press release from Jazzlyn Johnson, director of communications for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Officers with the Kansas City Police Department were called to the area of East 11th Street and Grand Boulevard around 9:15 a.m. Sunday on reports of a cutting, according to a probable cause statement filed in support of Kelly’s arrest.
There, they found Medina lying in the middle of Grand Boulevard with blood coming from his neck, the statement said. Officers attempted lifesaving measures before Medina was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police dispatchers told investigators that a man wearing “a black skull cap, black shirt, blue jeans” and mismatched shoes allegedly stabbed Medina before running south on Grand Boulevard, according to the statement.
Detectives found Kelly, with blood on his hands, walking near East 13th Street and Grand Boulevard, near T-Mobile Center, the court document said.
Two witnesses told investigators they were at a stoplight on East 11th Street when they saw Kelly chasing Medina, according to the court document. Medina fell down in the intersection, with Kelly standing over him.
When Medina stood up, the witnesses said he was bleeding. Kelly allegedly fled the scene.
A second witness at a nearby bus stop said Kelly and Medina “threw punches at each other” before Medina was stabbed, the statement said.
In an interview with investigators, Kelly said he believed Medina had “pulled a gun on him last year,” according to the court document. He said Medina was “speaking to him through his brain” and was “going to kill him.”
Kelly believed he stabbed Medina in the chin, he told investigators, before he left the scene and threw his knife down on a sidewalk.
Kelly is being held in the Jackson County Detention Center on a $250,000 cash-only bond, Johnson said.
