In the winter of 2017, a life of quiet heroism and community service was tragically cut short on a Kansas City street. Darryl A. Singleton, a 57-year-old man, was killed on the evening of December 7, 2017. He was on a break from his job at LP's Grocery and Liquor, located in the 4500 block of East 24th Street, when the fatal encounter unfolded.
Singleton was standing outside the store, taking a moment for a cigarette, when an argument that did not involve him escalated to deadly
violence. He was standing near another man, Reginald E. Jones Sr., who was in a heated phone conversation with his son, Reginald Jones Jr. Shortly after the call, the younger Jones arrived at the scene. Surveillance footage captured the moment Jones Jr. pulled out a gun and shot his father. He then turned the weapon on Singleton, an innocent bystander, and shot him as well before fleeing in an orange Mitsubishi Eclipse. Both Singleton and Jones Sr. were pronounced dead at the scene.
The man responsible for this senseless act of violence, Reginald Jones Jr., later turned himself in to the authorities. His legal proceedings brought a measure of justice, though it came with a complex verdict. In July 2019, a jury acquitted Jones Jr. of the murder of his father but found him guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Darryl Singleton. The jury recommended a sentence of up to 33 years in prison for the killing of the innocent bystander.
Darryl Singleton was remembered as a cherished member of his community. He worked as a cook at Phillis Wheatley Elementary School and was a veteran of the United States Navy, where he had served as a mechanic. He was also hailed as a local hero for a selfless act in 2003, when he grabbed the wheel of a city bus after the driver suffered a seizure, safely guiding the vehicle and its 13 passengers to safety. His death was mourned by many who remembered him as a kind and brave man, a fiancé and a grandfather, whose life was taken for no reason.
