Kansas City man is found guilty of first-degree murder

A Jackson County jury late Thursday found Garron T. Briggs, 29, guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of a man and the injuring of a second victim in an August 2011 home invasion.

According to court records, the second victim returned to her home in the 7000 block of East 85th Terrace about 1 a.m. and saw three men, Briggs among them, approach her.

After forcing the victim to unlock the home’s front door, Briggs forced the victim to lie on the living room floor while the two other men went into a bedroom and began looking for something they couldn’t find.

They repeatedly asked Edward Ewing, the second victim’s boyfriend, to tell them where the “stuff” was. One of the men then returned to the living room to say they couldn’t find what they were looking for. After Briggs told the man to “do it,” Briggs pointed a gun at the victim and shot her.

The victim, who kept silent in hopes that Briggs would not shoot her again, soon heard gunshots from a bedroom.

After Briggs and the two others fled the home, the victim called 911 on her cellphone and then crawled to the bedroom of her infant daughter, where she found Ewing’s lifeless body against a wall after having been shot multiple times.

The jury also convicted Briggs of assault and two counts of armed criminal action. Because of the first-degree murder conviction, Briggs now faces a life sentence in prison with no possibility of parole.

Sentencing has been scheduled for Feb. 19.

In January, Briggs received a 25-year federal prison sentence for his role in a $7.5 million conspiracy to distribute cocaine and crack cocaine.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Kansas City man is found guilty of first-degree murder."