In the early hours of July 5, 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri, the life of 28-year-old DeAngelo Wallace was tragically cut short. The male victim was discovered unresponsive on the corner of 12th and Locust streets, startlingly close to the Kansas City Police Department headquarters, by a passerby around 12:30 a.m. Emergency responders arrived at the scene to find Wallace with gunshot wounds and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Preliminary investigations by the police suggested that
Wallace had been involved in a verbal altercation with an unknown individual that escalated into a fatal shooting. The suspect fled the scene in an unknown direction. In the days following the shooting, a person of interest was taken into custody by the Kansas City Police. Detectives worked with prosecutors to determine if charges would be filed. However, the suspect was later released, and as of the latest available information, no formal charges had been filed in connection with Wallace's death.
Wallace's death, which marked the city's 78th homicide of the year, left his family seeking answers and justice. His sister, Shauntice Wallace, and other family members have voiced their belief that he was the victim of a hate crime, targeted because he was a gay Black man. They reported that he had been subjected to threats and harassment in the period leading up to his death. Despite the family's concerns, the Kansas City Police Department stated that there was no evidence to indicate the shooting was a hate crime, attributing the incident to a personal dispute. The family held vigils and press conferences to bring attention to his case and to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community.
