On November 1, 2017, police in Kansas City found 34-year-old John C. Jones dead inside an overturned vehicle near East 16th Street and Lister Avenue. Officers responding around 5:00 p.m. did so after reports of a shooting and subsequent crash; the car was riddled with bullets and Jones had sustained fatal gunshot wounds, pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses described a group fleeing immediately after the shooting: three men, possibly juveniles, who jumped into a dark blue or black vehicle and sped north from the wreckage. Police reports also noted two unknown Black males exiting Jones’s vehicle before joining the getaway car. Investigators said others may have been in the car with Jones before the attack, but their identities were unknown.

Jones was a Kansas City resident, a father and new grandfather, employed at Tyson Foods and trained as a barber at Job Corps; relatives said he was working on music with family and was due to celebrate his grandson’s first birthday the day after the shooting. No arrests had been announced and detectives appealed for witnesses or tips. Did anyone in the area see that vehicle or recognize the men who ran from the scene?