Thomas J. Rice III, 44, was found unresponsive inside his parked car along U.S. 40 and Manchester Trafficway on the evening of January 4, 2018. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene; the cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head. He was identified as Kansas City’s first homicide victim of 2018.

Investigators focused on a neighbor, Aasim I. Karim, after witnesses said they heard gunfire from Karim’s yard and that Karim had asked about Rice’s whereabouts and previously threatened to shoot Rice. Surveillance video placed Karim’s vehicle near the scene around the time of the shooting. Police recovered a pistol magazine on Karim when he was arrested, and a search of his home turned up a loaded shotgun, ammunition, and spent shell casings that matched the .40 caliber casing found at the scene.

Karim was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action; a jury later convicted him and he received life without parole plus ten years.