The last words of a dying man helped Kansas City police find a suspect in the city s worst mass killing in more than two years.
Kevin Brown, one of four persons shot early Friday inside a central Kansas City house, blurted to a witness: I m dying. If I die, Terrance is the one that did it, according to court documents made public Tuesday after the arrest of 22-year-old Terrance Robinson.
Robinson was charged Sunday in Jackson County Circuit Court with four counts of first-degree murder, four counts of armed criminal action and first-degree burglary. He turned himself in at Kansas City Police Headquarters about 8:40 p.m.
Monday.
He made his first court appearance Tuesday afternoon in front of Associate Circuit Judge Bob Beaird, who entered a not-guilty plea on Robinson s behalf. Beaird did not set a bond and scheduled Robinson s next court appearance for Dec.
11.
According to the documents, Brown, 51, was the only victim still alive when police reached the house in the 3200 block of East 30th Street about 1:50 a.m.
Friday. When a police sergeant asked who shot him, Brown answered Terrance, court records showed. Brown later died at a hospital.
Tracy W. Pearson, 39, Tiara Haynes, 23, and Paul Long, 40, were each shot in the head and showed no signs of life when officers arrived, according to the probable-cause statement filed to support the charges against Robinson, who was described as an associate of Brown.
The court documents provide no clue to the motive for the shootings.
Police said Tuesday that they had not nailed down a motive, although they said they had heard Robinson was angry at Brown because of a previous dispute.
Homicide Sgt. Barb Eckert said Robinson had been at the house previously.
He didn t surprise them, she said. He was welcomed in.
Eckert said she thought Brown the only victim not shot in the head put up a fight as he was shot several times in the chest.
Pearson s brother, Chris Thurman, said Tuesday that he also thought Brown and Robinson had had a prior argument and that his sister and the other victims were innocent bystanders. Pearson lived at the residence, and the others were visiting.
Two surviving witnesses not named in the court documents, including a 14-year-old girl, were in the house when Robinson knocked on the door and was let in, the witnesses later told detectives.
The suspect hung out for about 15 minutes, left briefly and then returned and closed and locked the door behind him, according to the girl, who said she was sitting on a couch next to Haynes.
The suspect then walked over to Haynes and shot her in the head, according to the court statement.
He then ordered, Everybody get on the ground.
Get on the ground. The witness said she complied. The gunman walked into another room and when she heard another shot, the witness ran from the house to get help, she said.
The girl ran two blocks, where she banged on a man s door, the man said Tuesday. He asked that his name not be used because he feared retribution.
He said the girl appeared traumatized and asked to use his phone.
He overheard the girl asking for a ride. When he asked her what happened, she said her friend had been shot in the head. She told him she was in the house playing cards when a man arrived looking for somebody.
The man said he suggested that they called 911. Officers soon arrived and surrounded his house with guns drawn, he said. Officers handcuffed him but later released him and apologized.
According to court records, a second witness said he was sitting at the dining room table with Long and Pearson when he heard a shot and saw the suspect waving a gun. The suspect walked into the dining room and shouted, Everybody put everything on the table, the witness reported.
After the suspect shot another victim and walked toward the rear of the house, the second witness ran out the front door.
The witnesses later identified Robinson in a photographic lineup, according to court records.
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