Records show how a fatal March 10 shooting moved from an unsolved homicide scene to charges against a 19-year-old suspect.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When police were called just before 6 p.m. on March 10 to a shooting near East 55th Street and Chestnut Avenue, they found a wounded young man in a grassy area and little public explanation for what had happened. One week later, prosecutors named a suspect and described a breakup dispute, surveillance trail and eyewitness account behind the killing.
That progression is what makes the case stand out in the court record. The early public picture was simple: a 21-year-old man, later identified as Richaud Conley, had been shot and died after being taken to a hospital. The later filing added a motive police are investigating, the name of a defendant, and a narrative that places Conley with his mother during the final moments. Ke’Montae Phillips, 19, now faces second-degree murder and armed criminal action charges, with bond set at $250,000 cash only.
The first official phase came at the scene itself. According to local reports, officers were dispatched at about 5:45 p.m. to the area of 55th Street and Chestnut Avenue. The probable cause affidavit later fixed the dispatch time more precisely at 5:49 p.m. Detectives wrote that officers arrived to find a male suffering from gunshot wounds. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died. At that stage, the public record said little more than where he had been found and that homicide detectives were investigating. Local television outlets identified him the next day as Richaud Conley, 21. No suspect was publicly named then, and there was no immediate public account of why the shooting happened.
The second phase began with Conley’s mother, who detectives describe as a direct eyewitness. Her statement gave investigators both a backstory and a minute-by-minute account. She told police her son had been dealing with trouble from his ex-girlfriend’s brother after the relationship ended. About a week before the homicide, she said, she and her son were walking when a young man approached and made hostile remarks about the breakup. She told detectives the encounter turned physical and that another male, carrying a rifle-style weapon, was present. On March 10, she said, her son came to meet her near apartments and appeared scared. He told her, in effect, that “they are following me,” though she later said she could not get a clear explanation. As they walked home together, she noticed he had a rifle tucked into his pants.
The third phase in the public record is the shooting itself, where the emotional account and the forensic details meet. The affidavit says that as the pair entered an intersection, the same male from the week-earlier confrontation approached on foot and said something like, “you clutching?” Detectives wrote that he then produced a rifle-style weapon with a red laser and opened fire with an automatic weapon. Conley’s mother said her son shielded her while they ran. She said neither she nor her son managed to return fire. A short distance away, in a field, she realized her son had been shot and started CPR while neighbors came out to help. One witness later told police the woman appeared to move a rifle after the shooting and accidentally discharge it once. The affidavit does not say that shot injured anyone, but it does show how chaotic the scene became in the minutes after the main volley of gunfire.
The fourth phase is how investigators worked backward and outward from that field. Detectives reported recovering 27 .300 Blackout casings, six 9 mm casings, one spent .223 casing, and signs of bullet travel in the dirt where Conley fled. Multiple witnesses, the affidavit says, described hearing a burst of automatic fire followed by several individual gunshots from what sounded like another gun. One witness’s dash camera partly captured the shooting as the driver passed through the area. Others saw a white sedan parked nearby and two males near it. Detectives then reviewed city cameras, church video and automated license plate reader data. According to the affidavit, that led them to a white Ford Fusion with a temporary Kansas tag moving through the area before and after the shooting. The papers say the vehicle’s movements at a Family Dollar lot and a Phillips 66 station looked unusual and suggested the occupants were waiting and watching.
The fifth phase is where the homicide file turns into a named criminal case. Detectives wrote that police resources identified the driver in red and black clothing as Phillips. The plate information on the Ford Fusion led police to a registered owner whose daughter had been documented in an earlier police report as Conley’s girlfriend. Detectives also said the daughter had ties to apartments near the shooting scene. Officers sought a search warrant for a residence connected to the investigation. An adult woman there told detectives she knew nothing about the homicide but admitted Phillips drove her vehicle. Police then brought Phillips in for an interview. According to the affidavit, he denied any role, said one of the men in the surveillance images looked like his twin, and then referred to Conley as “the guy that got murdered” before detectives had told him the person in the photo was the victim. After more questioning, the affidavit says, he asked for an attorney and the interview ended.
The final phase now belongs to the courts. Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced the charges on March 17, describing a fatal shooting near 71 Highway and saying city cameras and dash camera footage captured a man later identified as Phillips exiting a vehicle, approaching the victims and opening fire with an automatic rifle-style firearm. The office emphasized that charges are accusations and that the defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted or a guilty plea is entered. A bond review was scheduled for Wednesday, and a preliminary hearing is set for April 15. The remaining gaps are significant: the affidavit points to a second male, but no public charge against that person appears in the record described so far, and the filed documents do not publicly say whether the main gun was recovered.
What began as a brief police bulletin about a man found shot in a grassy area has become a closely tracked homicide prosecution built from witness memories, shell casings, vehicle data and a family dispute that investigators say had been escalating. The next public milestone is the April 15 preliminary hearing, where the court process may begin to test how that record holds up under adversarial scrutiny.
Author note: Last updated April 14, 2026.