On the evening of April 30, 2019, 27-year-old Dwayne J. Sutton was fatally shot while riding as a passenger in a vehicle traveling through Kansas City, Missouri. Sutton, a male, was in the back seat of a Mitsubishi sedan that had recently departed from a motel near 63rd Street and Missouri 350. The driver of the vehicle, a woman, had picked up Sutton along with another man, Carl L.
Farnsworth Jr., who was seated in the front passenger seat.
According to reports, the atmosphere in the car became tense as Farnsworth, then 26, began behaving erratically. Witnesses described him as acting 'crazy' and claiming that someone had stolen his money. Sutton attempted to calm Farnsworth down from the back seat, but the situation escalated. The driver reportedly turned up the radio to drown out Farnsworth's agitation. As the vehicle traveled near Interstate 435 and Eastwood Trafficway, the driver felt a sudden compression and heard a ringing in her ears. Glancing in the rearview mirror, she saw blood on Sutton’s face and observed Farnsworth holding a firearm.
Farnsworth allegedly yelled that he had been shot in the back of the head first, though police later determined he was uninjured. The driver immediately drove to a BP gas station located at 4009 Blue Ridge Cutoff to seek help. Upon arrival, Farnsworth reportedly handed the gun to the driver and fled the scene on foot, running toward a nearby Burger King. Surveillance footage later captured him entering the restaurant. When police arrived, he jumped over the counter and ran out the back door in an attempt to escape. He tried to enter another vehicle but was quickly apprehended by officers.
Authorities discovered Dwayne Sutton deceased in the back seat of the car from gunshot wounds. During a search of the vehicle, investigators found a. 40 caliber handgun and a spent shell casing under the front passenger seat where Farnsworth had been sitting. A 9mm handgun was also recovered in the back seat near Sutton. Prosecutors charged Carl L. Farnsworth Jr. with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, unlawful possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest. At the time of the incident, records indicated Farnsworth was a convicted felon who was prohibited from possessing a firearm.
