On December 4, 2016, Phillip A. Diaz, a 23-year-old Hispanic male from Independence, Missouri, was found critically injured in the parking lot of the Hawthorne Place Apartments. Police officers arrived at the complex in the 16700 block of East Fifth Street North around 5:00 p.m. to discover that Diaz had suffered a gunshot wound. First responders attempted to resuscitate him at the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
The incident marked the city's seventh homicide of that year.
Detectives immediately launched an investigation, noting tire tracks leaving the parking lot and heading southbound. By obtaining a search warrant for the victim's cellphone, authorities discovered an outgoing call and text messages exchanged earlier that day between Diaz and an acquaintance named Tyrone Eugene Willard II. Further investigation linked the digital trail to a Facebook page connected to Willard. Police were able to track a vehicle matching the description of one seen at the crime scene to an associate of Willard, and a subsequent search of the car revealed traces of human blood inside.
Prosecutors in Jackson County charged 20-year-old Tyrone Eugene Willard II of Kansas City with second-degree murder and distribution of a controlled substance. Court records indicated that Willard and another man had arranged to meet Diaz at the apartment complex for a marijuana transaction. Willard allegedly admitted to investigators that he met the victim for the deal, but claimed that an accomplice was the one who fired the fatal shot inside the vehicle before they fled the scene. At the time of the shooting, Willard was reportedly out on bond awaiting sentencing for a separate robbery charge.
