KC man charged with murder after gas station shooting on Prospect Avenue
A Kansas City man is facing second-degree murder charges after he allegedly shot a man outside a gas station in Kansas City’s Town Fork Creek neighborhood in late April.
Jquan Styles-Olden, 18, faces charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, according to a news release from Jazzlyn Johnson, director of communications for the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Officers with the Kansas City Police Department were called to a Phillips 66 near the intersection of East 55th Street and Prospect Avenue just before 10 a.m. April 24 on reports of a shooting, according to a probable cause statement supporting the charges filed against Styles-Olden.
There, investigators found 20-year-old Tarvious Watkins inside a red Chevrolet Silverado, which had several bullet holes, parked just outside the convenience store, the statement said. He was declared dead at the scene.
Surveillance footage from the area showed that as Styles-Olden left the convenience store, he fired several shots into the driver’s side of Watkins’ vehicle, according to the court document.
Styles-Olden then reportedly fled the scene, leaving behind the red Pontiac he had arrived in, the statement said.
Investigators said the footage showed Styles-Olden purchasing a box of Froot Loops cereal at the convenience store moments before the shooting. The unopened box was later found in the passenger seat of the Pontiac.
Detectives were able to identify Styles-Olden through the vehicle’s registration, the statement said. The vehicle belonged to someone close to Styles-Olden.
In a statement to investigators, someone close to Styles-Olden said they were told he “got into it with someone” and “had to reload,” the statement said. The convenience store clerk identified Styles-Olden in a photo lineup.
In an initial interview with investigators, Styles-Olden admitted to shooting Watkins, according to the probable cause statement. He said the pair had had “previous interactions.”
As he was leaving the store, Styles-Olden reportedly said he heard “what he believed to be a firearm round being chambered,” the statement said. He made eye contact with Watkins, which left him feeling “uneasy” based on the way Watkins “was looking at him.”
Styles-Olden told detectives Watkins had a “big gun,” which he fired once in his direction. He said he began to shoot at Watkins because he feared for his life.
Styles-Olden is being held in the Jackson County Detention Center, according to the jail’s inmate listing. No further court dates are set in his case.
