On the afternoon of January 14, 2025, law enforcement officers in Kansas City, Missouri, were dispatched to a residence in the Northland regarding a disturbance that had escalated into violence. Responding to the 3900 block of North Lister Avenue around 4:30 p.m., police discovered a chaotic scene indicating a severe altercation. Outside a nearby home, they found 36-year-old male Colton J. Stock suffering from a gunshot wound.
Emergency medical personnel transported him to a local hospital for urgent treatment, but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.
The investigation at the scene revealed a second individual involved in the incident. Inside the residence, officers located another adult male who had also sustained gunshot trauma. This individual was transported to a hospital in critical but stable condition. Detectives initially determined that the violence likely stemmed from an argument between the two men which intensified into an exchange of gunfire. Authorities indicated that the two individuals appeared to be shooting at each other and that police were not actively searching for additional suspects in connection with the immediate incident.
The death of Colton Stock drew significant attention due to his prior involvement in a high-profile legal case in the area. Years before his death, Stock had been the subject of a major criminal investigation regarding the 2019 death of Matthew Calkins. In that case, prosecutors alleged that Stock killed Calkins and dismembered his body, later burning the remains. However, a Clay County jury acquitted Stock of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in December 2022, accepting his defense that he acted in self-defense during a burglary.
Despite the acquittal on the murder charge, the jury convicted Stock of abandoning a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. He was sentenced to prison for those felonies and had been released from custody in September 2024, only months before the fatal shooting on Lister Avenue. While police worked to determine the exact nature of the relationship between Stock and the other man involved in the 2025 shooting, they stated there was no immediate indication that his death was related to the previous 2019 case. The investigation remained focused on the dispute that led to the final exchange of gunfire.
