Mark L Williams

In the early afternoon of a Wednesday in January 2013, the creative space of a recording studio on Hickman Mills Road in south Kansas City was shattered by violence. Inside, 53-year-old Mark L. Williams, known by the nickname Maestro and a co-owner of the recently opened studio, was shot and killed. The gunman, who had forcefully entered the establishment around 12:30 p.m., also fatally shot another man present, 40-year-old Antonio E. Jones.

The studio, though still undergoing renovations ...