In the early morning hours of August 30, 2015, a burst of gunfire shattered the quiet of a Kansas City neighborhood, leaving one man dead and two others wounded. Justin J. Butler, a 28-year-old man, was on the front porch of a home in the 3400 block of East Park Avenue when the shooting erupted at approximately 6:30 a.m. The incident was part of a violent exchange, described by authorities as a shootout between individuals in the street and people on the porch.
The violence of that
morning was foreshadowed by an earlier event at the same residence. Just hours before the fatal shooting, around 3 a.m., authorities had been called to the home for a reported arson. Someone had set the front porch on fire, hinting at the targeted nature of the subsequent violence. When the shooting occurred, Butler was killed, and another man on the porch was also wounded. A juvenile inside the home sustained a gunshot injury to his hand. A woman and another child who were also present in the house were not physically harmed.
The investigation into the drive-by shooting led authorities to Joshua P. Randolph. A witness who was inside the home at the time of the shooting identified Randolph as one of the shooters, stating they saw him firing from one of two cars that were driving past the house. Physical evidence collected at the scene further implicated Randolph. Investigators recovered 17 shell casings from the street, along with a broken driver's side mirror. A search of a car belonging to Randolph uncovered additional shell casings on the windshield that matched those found at the scene of the crime. Furthermore, the broken mirror was traced back to a vehicle belonging to one of Randolph's relatives.
In September 2018, a Jackson County jury convicted Joshua P. Randolph for his role in the deadly shooting. The 37-year-old was found guilty of second-degree murder, first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, and three counts of armed criminal action. Randolph was later sentenced for the crimes that brought a violent end to Justin Butler's life.
