For Immediate Release

Dec. 13, 2019

A Jackson County jury late Thursday convicted a security guard in the fatal shooting June 29, 2018 of Kevin Thomas near the Yum Yum Bar and Grill on 24th Street in Kansas City, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.

Christopher L. Jones, dob: 5/1/1981, was convicted of Murder 2nd Degree, Armed Criminal Action and the misdemeanor of Tampering With Physical Evidence. The jury recommended 13-, 6- and 1-year sentences, respectively. A judge will sentence Jones at a hearing yet to be set.*

According to court records, Kanss City police were called to the 5300 block of E. 24th Street on June 29, 2018, on a reported shooting. The location was just east of the Yum Yum Bar & Grill. The victim was Kevin Thomas, dob: 1/19/1973, who died later at a hospital. Spent shells were recovered from the street by the victim's vehicle. It was stopped in the middle of the road and the victim was shot while inside the vehicle, when it was located off the property of the bar. The Medical Examiner ruled the death resulted from the gunshot wounds. Security guards told police they responded to a vehicular accident. When the driver didn't respond to their commands, Jones later stated to police that he and a second guard fired shots at the victim. Jones shot through the passenger side of the windshield. Jones also told police that after the shooting he gave his weapon to someone to hide.

Cases filed against co-defendants in the murder and the tampering with physical evidence have yet to go to trial.

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

mmansur@jacksongov.org

http://jacksoncountyprosecutor.com

*Charges are only accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until the defendant is either found guilty or has pleaded.