By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
September 2, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — One suspect is in police custody following a shooting last week that took place in the Northeast.

In a press release, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced that Leroy Walters, 19, of Kansas City, has been charged in connection with the shooting, critically injuring a 15-year-old male on Monday, Aug. 24, near Cypress and Anderson Avenues. Walters has been charged with first-degree assault, a class A felony; and armed criminal action, a felony.

According to court documents, the victim was approached by a group of males in a Yellow Cab with a black bumper as they walked home from school. Witnesses told police that the shooter exited the taxi and shot the victim, who was walking. The victim said he was walking with a group of friends, according to court records, when Walters pulled up in the cab and started to speak with him. The victim recognized two of the four people in the car. A juvenile suspect told the victim to give him everything he had. Then the suspect hit him in the face with a handgun, causing the weapon to fire. The juvenile suspect stepped back, pointed the gun at the victim and fired into the victim’s chest. He got back into Walter’s vehicle and left. Walters admitted to being the driver and said the juvenile suspect shot the victim.

Witnesses reported seeing the vehicle near Gladstone Boulevard and Lawn Avenue, where two black males exited the vehicle. One of the witnesses noted that one of the males threw something under a bush, then fled eastbound on Gladstone into the woods. Police officers were dispatched to the East Bottoms area where an area canvas was conducted based on a 911 call for suspicious parties in the area. Walters was located by officers and detained. Canine officers located the weapon, a black, Hi Point 3.80 caliber pistol with one round in the chamber and three additional rounds in the magazine. The other black male ran into a fenced business area off Nicholson Avenue, but was later detained by police.

Prosecutors have requested a cash only bond of $150,000. The victim remains hospitalized.