Late on March 6 and into the early hours of March 7, 2024, 19-year-old Kalob Lee Ruth and a teenage friend, Carlos Gonzalez, were in a wooded area of Kansas City, Missouri, when shots were fired. Both young men suffered gunshot wounds and were driven by private vehicle to the University of Kansas Medical Center, arriving about 12:45 a.m. Medical staff pronounced both dead on March 7. Ruth was a father of two young sons and was known by the nickname Kdawg; his family had recently celebrated a child’s birthday.

Kansas City Police searched the scene and took a person of interest in for questioning, but that individual was later released without charges. No further arrests had been reported in the immediate aftermath, and detectives continued to seek a motive and the person responsible. If anyone was in or near that wooded area on the night of March 6 or has information about what led to the shooting, please come forward.