In the quiet evening of March 11, 2019, Rita F. Moore-Edmond, a 44-year-old Black female, was at her Raytown, Missouri, apartment with her teenage son and her new boyfriend, Rodney Brundige. The evening took a distressing turn when her ex-boyfriend, Clifton L. Jack, created a disturbance at her home. Moore-Edmond promptly called the police for assistance. Officers arrived, and after they left, they contacted Jack by phone, instructing him not to go back to the residence.
They also advised Moore-Edmond on the process of obtaining a protection order, which she planned to do the following day.
Tragically, the police intervention did not deter Jack. In the early morning hours of March 12, he returned to the apartment, this time armed with a rifle. He broke in through a sliding glass door, an act witnessed by Moore-Edmond's teenage son who was awakened by the sound of shattering glass. The teenager then heard a gunshot and saw Jack in the hallway shooting Brundige. Inside the bedroom, police later found both Moore-Edmond and Brundige, who was 49, with fatal gunshot wounds. Moore-Edmond had been shot in the arm, and Brundige was shot in the back.
After shooting the couple, Clifton L. Jack, who was 45 at the time, turned the gun on himself in a failed suicide attempt. He survived the self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest and was subsequently hospitalized. Following his release from the hospital, Jack was arrested and faced serious charges for his actions.
The Jackson County Prosecutor's Office charged Clifton L. Jack with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action for the deaths of Rita Moore-Edmond and Rodney Brundige. Court records indicated a history of harassment and threats made by Jack towards Moore-Edmond prior to the fatal incident. Family members expressed their belief that more could have been done to protect Moore-Edmond, citing Jack's known history of violence and his probation status at the time of the murders.
