KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A man charged in the fatally shooting a 33-year-old outside a Kansas City gas station in broad daylight last week was seen by cameras and witnesses walking back inside to purchase gasoline before fleeing the scene, according to court records.
Justin J. Owens-Harrell, 31, is charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with involuntary manslaughter, armed criminal action and unlawful firearm possession. He is accused of killing Skyler Smith outside of the Gulf gas station and Big B’s convenience store in the city’s Foxtown East neighborhood on Friday.
According to court records, Kansas City police officers were dispatched around 5 p.m. to the store on a reported shooting. Officers found Smith with a gunshot wound to the neck.
Smith was taken to Research Medical Center by ambulance and died there.
Witnesses told police the two men exchanged words as they were walking past one another outside the convenience store. Then Owens-Harrell allegedly approached Smith with a pistol drawn and they started to fight. The gun went off as the men were fighting, according to court records.
After the shot rang out, surveillance footage showed patrons ducking in the store shortly before Smith walked inside and collapsed. Outside two men were seen pushing a black Dodge Charger toward the pumps before the gunman walked back inside to pay for gas.
The Dodge was seen leaving the scene afterward. A surveillance camera captured its license plate, which traced back to Owens-Harrell, according to court records.
One of the witnesses to the shooting is the suspect’s father. He told police he happened to be driving by the gas station on his way home from work when he noticed his son’s car parked there and pulled in.
When he saw his son holding the firearm, the father yelled out: “You better not.” He said he tried to intervene while telling his son to stop but that “it all happened so fast,” according to court records.
The father said his son asked for a ride because he was out of gas, but he refused to let him leave with him.
Police also interviewed another witness who reported being with Owens-Harrell at the gas station during the shooting. He told police Owens-Harrell had given him a ride to the store after they finished working on his car that day. After the shooting, he helped push the car back to the pump and waited for Owens-Harrell to pay $10 in gas.
Owens-Harrell was taken to police headquarters Monday, three days after the shooting, after he was arrested at a residence. When shown a photograph of surveillance footage that detectives said was him, he allegedly denied being there.
When told that detectives were investigating a homicide, he said “Lawyer” and the interview ended, according to court records.
Owens-Harrell is currently being held in the Jackson County jail on a $100,000 cash-only bond. Court records did not list a lawyer representing him in the case as of Wednesday.
