On the morning of September 18, 2015, David J. Duncan, a 45-year-old Black male, was targeted in a fatal shooting outside his residence in Independence, Missouri. Duncan had arrived at his home in the 16900 block of East 41st Terrace South around 9:45 a.m. when he was ambushed in his front yard. A gunman exited a vehicle and fired multiple rounds from a rifle, striking Duncan. He was transported to a local hospital where he subsequently succumbed to his injuries.
At the time of the incident, police initially searched for a silver Cadillac seen leaving the area, but the investigation later uncovered that the assailants had utilized a different vehicle during the attack.
Investigators determined that the murder was the culmination of a feud involving a belief that Duncan had paid to have another man's cousin killed. Surveillance footage from a nearby gas station and other evidence revealed that the suspect, DeMarko L. Collins, had staked out Duncan’s home for two days leading up to the homicide. On the morning of the shooting, Collins was identified as the driver of an orange Dodge Journey that waited for Duncan to return. When Duncan arrived, the attack was launched. Collins was already a convicted felon on parole for a prior robbery conviction at the time of the shooting, and law enforcement executed a search warrant at his apartment shortly after the murder, recovering a stolen firearm.
Although Collins was not charged with murder in state court for Duncan’s death, federal prosecutors pursued charges related to his illegal possession of firearms. During his 2017 federal sentencing, a judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence linking Collins to the murder of David Duncan. Consequently, the court applied a sentencing enhancement, treating the firearms offense with the severity of a homicide case. Collins was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison without parole. The tragedy for the Duncan family was compounded by the fact that David’s 21-year-old son, Darrin Duncan, had been shot and killed just one year prior in Kansas City, a case that remained unsolved at the time of David's death.
