In the autumn of 2017, a dispute over a simple wood stove is believed to have led to the untimely death of Bobbie Ray Bailey, a 35-year-old man from Kansas City, Missouri. On the afternoon of November 3, 2017, Bailey was found lying in the street at the corner of Sixth Street and Myrtle Avenue in northeast Kansas City, the victim of fatal gunfire. Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene.
Bailey, who had just completed his first week at a new construction job, had recently been released from prison after serving a sentence for burglary. He was a father, and according to his former fiancée, had been trying to turn his life around.
In the days following the shooting, the Kansas City Police Department identified a 'person of interest' they wished to question in connection with Bailey's death: 24-year-old Anthony 'Tony' Nevels. Nevels subsequently turned himself in to the authorities. However, he was later released from custody pending further investigation. While the police have not publicly confirmed the motive, Bailey's family and friends believe the shooting stemmed from an argument over a wood stove that Bailey had given to another man in the neighborhood. They maintain that Bailey was unarmed at the time of the confrontation.
The investigation into Bobbie Ray Bailey's death has been fraught with the pain of loss for his family, particularly his mother, who had lost her other son to suicide the previous year. In the immediate aftermath, Bailey's former fiancée canvassed the neighborhood for witnesses, finding a community hesitant to speak out. The family held a vigil at the site of his death, seeking to keep his memory alive and urging the police to continue their investigation. To date, no arrests have been made, and no charges have been filed in the shooting death of Bobbie Ray Bailey. The case remains an open investigation.
