On July 1, 2020, police in Kansas City, Missouri, responded to a shooting near East 27th Street and Chestnut Avenue around 7:15 p.m. Officers found 28-year-old Darren Marshall with fatal gunshot wounds in the 2700 block of 27th Street. Investigators recovered five spent shell casings near the body and witnesses described a green Pontiac fleeing the scene.

Officers later spotted a vehicle matching that description near 27th Street and Prospect Avenue. The driver refused to stop and led police on a high-speed pursuit that reached speeds up to 85 mph toward the state line before the vehicle was stopped in Kansas and the driver taken into custody. The driver was identified as 36-year-old Eric Thomas, the sole occupant of the car. Police say a handgun found in the vehicle was forensically linked to the shell casings at Marshall’s body. Thomas reportedly made a spontaneous statement that someone had shot at him and he was returning fire, though he later denied making that admission.

The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office charged Eric Thomas with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest, and requested $150,000 bond. Court records show Thomas is a convicted felon and had a prior resisting arrest conviction that barred him from possessing firearms. If anyone saw the shooting near East 27th Street or has information about the green Pontiac, please share what was seen.