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Kansas City man charged with murder for deadly 2023 shooting

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - More than three years after a deadly shooting in east Kansas City, charges have been filed against a Kansas City man.

On Tuesday, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced that 24-year-old Derrick L. Swain has been charged with second-degree felony murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon for a deadly shooting on May 7, 2023.

That day, Kansas City police found a victim near 12th Street and Denver Avenue with apparent trauma. The victim was placed on life support and died a week later.

Court documents said surveillance footage caught Swain driving a car with two other individuals in it before making a U-turn onto 12th Street. The rear passengers in the car fired shots in the direction of the victims, striking one of them.

License plate readers helped police determine the vehicle was stolen on May 6, 2023, and recovered two days later.

The other two individuals in the car with Swain were juveniles at the time of the shooting, court documents said.

Swain is in custody in the Jackson County Detention Center and is being held on a $150,000 cash-only bond for the latest charges. He was already in jail on a probation violation and failure to appear warrant with bonds for those charges set at a combined $26,000.