On a cold January afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri, the life of 23-year-old Chase Byers, a Black/African American male, was tragically cut short. On January 20, 2020, at approximately 3:30 p.m., gunshots shattered the calm near 80th Street and James A Reed Road. When police arrived at the scene, they discovered Byers suffering from gunshot wounds.
Despite the immediate efforts of law enforcement to render aid until emergency medical services arrived, his injuries proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Another individual, a woman, was also struck by the gunfire, sustaining a non-life-threatening wound to her leg.
In the wake of the shooting, the Kansas City Police Department launched a homicide investigation, a search for answers and for those responsible for Byers' death. A year after the incident, authorities renewed their appeal to the public for any information that might lead to a breakthrough in the case, offering a significant reward of $25,000 for tips that result in an arrest. However, despite this incentive and the ongoing investigation, the case has grown cold. To date, no arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified, leaving a void of uncertainty and a thirst for justice.
The unresolved nature of his death has left Chase Byers' family enveloped in a profound and lingering grief. His mother, Sabrina McGee, remembers her son as a jokester who deeply loved his family. He was a devoted father to his young daughter, who was only four years old at the time of his passing. Family and friends have gathered for vigils and memorials, not only to honor the memory of a life taken too soon but also to keep his story alive in the public consciousness, holding onto the hope that someone will come forward with the information needed to bring his killer or killers to justice and provide a measure of closure to a family forever altered by a senseless act of violence.
