Missouri governor defends self-defense law after Chiefs rally shooting plea deals
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on Wednesday pushed back against Jackson County’s argument that the state’s self-defense laws restricted the prosecution of two individuals involved in the 2024 Chiefs rally mass shooting.
“I hate to always question a prosecutor, but that seems like it’s a stretch to me,” Kehoe, a Republican, told The Star. “I hope that’s not a political statement more than it is reality.”
Kehoe’s comments came after the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office struck plea deals with Terry Young and Dominic Miller, two of three men charged with murder following the high-profile shooting that killed one woman. Young and Miller both pleaded guilty to lesser weapons charges and each received a two-year prison sentence.
The sentences, which included time served, marked a meager conclusion to a life-altering, highly-publicized shooting that roiled Kansas City. The shooting outside of Union Station following the Chiefs Super Bowl victory rally received national media attention and was witnessed by hundreds of thousands of fans and state lawmakers of both parties.
In the wake of the plea deals, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson pointed to Missouri’s robust self-defense law, which offers individuals wide discretion to use deadly force if they believe they are about to be attacked. Johnson said that the law, often called both the “castle doctrine” and “stand your ground,” restricted her ability to prosecute the case.
“This case, like many others, highlights the significant restrictions that Missouri’s self-defense and defense-of-others laws place on our ability to prosecute conduct that many in our community would deem unacceptable,” Johnson said in a statement earlier this month.
The back-and-forth between Kehoe and Johnson offered a window into a yearslong, protracted debate over Missouri’s gun laws, among the loosest in the nation. The 2024 mass shooting sparked the loudest outcry for gun restrictions, but Missouri lawmakers have passed no changes to the state’s gun laws in the two years since the shooting.
Kehoe, in his comments to The Star on Wednesday, made no mention of gun laws but broadly called for accountability against those involved in the shooting.
“I think anybody who comes into a celebration in a moment like that, that disrupts a community, needs to be held accountable, because we can’t let other bad actors do the same thing,” Kehoe said. “I count on more championships happening across the state, including right here in Kansas City.”
A spokesperson for Johnson declined to respond to Kehoe’s comments on Wednesday.
Johnson’s focus on Missouri’s gun laws comes as a third man, Lyndell Mays, is set to go to trial in March 2027. May faces a second-degree murder charge and an additional charge of causing catastrophe.
