For Immediate Release
Jan. 25, 2023
A 19-year-old Independence man has been charged in connection with the fatal Dec. 17, 2022, fatal shooting of James Smith in an Independence parking lot during a narcotics transaction, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.
Chadd J. Williams, dob: 12/3/2003, faces criminal charges of Murder 2nd Degree, Robbery and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.*
According to court records filed today, Independence Police officers were dispatced to the 1000 block of S. Brookside on a report of a man down. Officers found a man inside a parked vehicle in the back parking lot. The victim, who had been shot once in the chest, was identified as James D. Smith. Video showed the victim's vehicle followed by the arrival of two men, who enter the victim's vehicle and struggle with the victim. Detectives used cell phone and social media data to identify the defendant and connect him to this fatal shooting, which resulted from an an assault and robbery of the victim.
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.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com
mmansur@jacksongov.org
*Charges are only accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until the defendant is either found guilty or has pleaded guilty.