Officers from KCPD, Independence and some federal agencies have spent the past two days on a "violent crime initiative," making 73 arrests in a warrant sweep. The last piece of the project is a knock-and-talk planned for tomorrow, when officers will go door-to-door to ask about five unsolved homicides. Those cases are ...
* Ricky Jones: 23-year-old Ricky Jones was shot at 31st and Elmwood at about 1:30 a.m. Aug. 1, 2009. He and a group of friends had been hanging out by an old school there when someone opened fire on the group.
* Maurice West: 20-year-old Maurice West was shot at about 3:58 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2009. He had been walking down a sidewalk at 116th and Holiday Drive when he became involved in a verbal argument with two black males across the street. One of them then shot and killed West, and both fled on foot.
* Jamil Ragland: 21-year-old Jamil D. Ragland was shot multiple times at about 8:18 p.m. March 26, 2010, in the parking lot of Friendship Village apartments at 5637 Norton. Three vehicles were seen leaving the scene of the shooting.
* Helen Ragan: 37-year-old Helen Ragan was inside her townhome in the 11800 block of Holiday Drive at about 9:52 p.m. April 26, 2010, when someone shot into the residence multiple times. Ragan was shot and killed in a bedroom.
* Bernard Jackson: 23-year-old Bernard Jackson was found shot to death in his home in the 8200 block of E. 108th St. after an apparent robbery at about 12:26 a.m. April 30, 2010. The suspect is described as a tall, slender light-skinned black male 21 to 24 years old.
Anyone with information in any of these cases is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
