On the evening of January 8, 2020, police in Kansas City, Missouri, responded to reports of gunfire in a residential neighborhood. Officers were dispatched to the 6800 block of Monroe Avenue after residents heard shots fired around 7:30 p.m. Upon arrival, they discovered a 17-year-old Black male, later identified as Treshaun Hawkins, suffering from gunshot wounds inside a home.
Emergency responders pronounced the teenager dead at the scene.
Preliminary investigations indicated that the victim had been shot from outside the residence while he was inside. Authorities noted that Hawkins appeared to be the only person present in the home at the time of the shooting. Detectives canvassed the area for witnesses and evidence, but in the immediate aftermath of the homicide, law enforcement officials reported that they had no information regarding a potential suspect. No arrests were immediately announced in connection with the fatal shooting, and investigators urged the public to come forward with any leads.
At the time of his death, Hawkins was the subject of an ongoing legal case involving a violent incident that had occurred months earlier. In August 2019, he had been charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action related to a shooting outside the Brush Creek Community Center. Prosecutors alleged that during an altercation between two other men in the community center's parking lot, Hawkins, who was initially recording the fight, drew a handgun and fired at the combatants. That incident resulted in the death of one man and injuries to another. Hawkins had surrendered to police shortly after the August shooting and was out on bond awaiting trial when he was killed in January.
