For Immediate Release
Sept. 21, 2021

A Jackson County judge on Tuesday sentenced a 64-year-old Kansas City man to 30 years in prison for the fatal shooting in August 2020 of his wife, Kimah McDonald, inside an Independence residence, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.

In  April 2021, a jury convicted Larnell McDonald, dob: 11/10/1956, of Involuntary Manslaughter and Armed Criminal Action. On Tuesday, a Jackson County judge sentenced the defendant to 10 years on the manslaughter conviction and 20 years on the Armed Criminal Action conviction. The judge set the sentences to run consecutively.

According to court records filed today, Independence police were dispatched on Aug. 16, 2020 to the 2600 block of S. Arlington Avenue in Independence, MO, after a reported verbal domestic dispute. The  victim, police learned, had texted her brother that the defendant had been threatening her. As officers approached the residence, they heard a single gunshot. The defendant exited the residence and police detained him. He stated that a gun accidentally went off. When asked if his wife, Kimah, was OK, he said, "No." Officers found her with a gunshot wound to the head. The victim’s brother showed police text messages between he and the victim. She reported in those messages that the defendant was threatening her. Also, the victim’s brother advised that his sister and defendant were possibly separating. The defendant told police that the gun "just went off." When asked why he pointed it at her, he said, "I shouldn’t have did it."

Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys Hallie Schuman, Traci Stansell and Brian Morris prosecuted the case on behalf of the state of Missouri.

For more information, contact:

 Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile : (816) 674-3954
www.jacksoncounyprosecutor.com
mmansur@jacksongov.org