On a tragic afternoon in Kansas City, Missouri, 32-year-old Jessika Peppers, a mother of two, was fatally shot on August 25, 2017. The incident unfolded in the 5700 block of Cambridge Avenue, where police responded to a shooting and discovered Peppers suffering from a gunshot wound. She was transported to a local hospital but succumbed to her injuries two hours later.
The man responsible for the shooting was her ex-boyfriend, David Love. He was taken into custody at the scene.
According to Love's account to the police, he was asleep in his bedroom when he was awakened by the sound of someone breaking into his residence. He stated that he grabbed his gun from under his bed and fired at the individual entering his room without recognizing them. Law enforcement found Peppers in a hallway near the bedroom with a hammer in her hand, and a window in the home had been broken.
Despite being taken into custody, Love was not charged in Peppers' death. The Jackson County Prosecutor's Office declined to file charges, citing self-defense. This decision was met with anguish by Peppers' mother, Carol Peppers, who said her daughter had feared for her life and had told a friend that Love would harm her. Complicating the matter, court records revealed that a protection order filed by Love's own mother was active at the time of the shooting, which should have prohibited him from possessing a firearm. However, this did not result in any charges related to the shooting. In the days following the incident, police sought the public's help in identifying a person on a motorcycle who was believed to be a witness, though it is unclear what, if any, information was gleaned from this effort.
