Donnie Kirkland was a 20-year-old Black man from Independence, Missouri, remembered by those who knew him as genuine and big-hearted and often called young Kirk. On the afternoon of June 5, 2024, he was working at a fast-food restaurant when an acquaintance, Antonio Catalan-Sharr, arrived in a red Jeep Liberty. Donnie told his manager he needed to leave for 10 to 15 minutes, got into the Jeep, and the vehicle drove to the Sugar Creek Apartments near Sundown Drive and South Claremont Avenue.

Surveillance footage shows Donnie speaking with occupants at the open driver’s side door, then taking a step back when a flash is seen projecting toward him from the car at close range. Police arrived just before 1 p.m. and found Donnie lying in the road with a gunshot wound to the chest; he was taken to a local hospital and died about an hour later. Investigators tracked the red Jeep and arrested 23-year-old Antonio Catalan-Sharr on June 11 in a Northeast Kansas City neighborhood. A search of his vehicle turned up documents bearing Donnie’s name and a round of ammunition that matched the bullet recovered from the shooting.

Did anyone in the Sugar Creek Apartments area see what happened that afternoon or know Donnie’s movements before he left work?