A 36-year-old man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the May shooting at a Kansas City nightclub that left three dead and two injured.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said the felony charges against 36-year-old Isiah Clinton come after he was accused of fatally shooting one of the three victims, according to charging documents.
The murder charge carried the possibility of life imprisonment, without the chance for parole, or the death penalty, court documents said.
Clinton has also been charged with five counts of armed criminal action and two counts of first-degree assault, documents said.
The charges were revealed at a 10 a.m. press conference, where Baker appeared alongside Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves and Mayor Quinton Lucas.
A police investigation revealed officers were dispatched on the morning of May 21 at 1:25 a.m. to 4242 Indiana Avenue.
The victims located at the scene were not named in police charging documents Friday
The first victim was located on the sidewalk outside the lounge. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was declared dead at a nearby hospital.
Officers discovered the second victim by the front door of the lounge and declared him dead from a gunshot wound at the scene, documents said
The third victim was found inside the lounge by police and also declared dead due to gunshot wounds.
Two more victims discovered by officers were transported to the hospital in critical condition for gunshot-related injuries.
Detectives canvassed the scene and learned video surveillance from Sankofa Cafe, just north of the lounge, had captured the shooting, according to documents.
The tape allegedly showed one man getting out of a Chevy Impala in white pants and a gray hooded sweatshirt. He entered the lounge. Then left, jumping back into the Impala, which was in a parking lot at 4307 Indiana Avenue, about ten minutes later, documents said.
Three minutes later, a second person in a gray hooded sweatshirt and gray pants was allegedly seen leaving the Impala and walking to the front door of the lounge.
He stood there for another three minutes, and at one point lifted his hand “like he is shooting a gun,” documents said.
After two minutes the first victim was alleged to have walked out of the lounge and the person waiting near the front door ran at them, shooting them multiple times.
Another victim, who was left in critical condition, tried to run away but allegedly fell in the middle of Indiana Ave. The person who had been waiting near the front door then ran after him and started kicking him as he was on the ground, documents said.
The person then ran back to the Impala, along with another person in a black hooded jacket and white pants, who had been inside the lounge, documents said.
More surveillance of the Indiana Avenue parking lot was allegedly obtained by police. The video showed the Impala arriving at 12:59 a.m. Police estimated the suspects had been at the lounge for 25 minutes before the shooting call was received by officers at 1:25 a.m.
The lounge had been holding a birthday party at the time of the shooting, documents said.
The following day police interviewed the victim who had been kicked in the middle of Indiana Avenue and left in critical condition. He allegedly did not know the suspects.
Police later alleged to have recognized an Impala with similar distinguishing features while on patrol near 35th and Prospect Ave. They arrested Clinton, who was driving, for operating the vehicle with a suspended license.
After reviewing evidence from the shooting, officers requested a Geofence warrant to locate whether Clinton’s cell phone had been in the parking lot and lounge area early on May 21, documents said.
Text conversations related to Clinton’s phone number revealed a message had been sent around 12:53 a.m. that said: “Omm [On my mother] we handle this tonight delete this.”
At 1:31 a.m. a follow-up message said: “It’s over with brody.”
On June 26, results from the Geofence warrant allegedly confirmed the phone number located near the lounge at the time of the shooting matched the phone number and home address associated with Clinton.
