In the early morning hours of May 27, 2021, the life of Aaron D. Shepherd, a 49-year-old White man, was cut short by violence in Topeka, Kansas. Just before 4:45 a.m., police were called to a shooting in the 1100 block of S.W. 17th Street in the city's central area. Officers arrived to find Mr. Shepherd lying in the roadway next to his vehicle, suffering from a gunshot wound.
He was transported by ambulance to Stormont Vail Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Topeka police investigation began immediately, and a critical breakthrough came from video surveillance collected in the area. The footage allowed authorities to identify the vehicle from which the fatal shot was fired as a Chevrolet Trailblazer sport utility vehicle. Further investigation into the SUV and its occupants led police to identify two suspects responsible for the crime.
The two men identified were Brandon T.D. Croskey and Jeremy F. Volle. In November 2022, Croskey pleaded guilty in Shawnee County District Court to one count of unintentional but reckless second-degree murder and one count of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle with great bodily harm. He was the first of the two men to be convicted in connection with Mr. Shepherd’s death.
Jeremy F. Volle, who investigators determined was the passenger in the Trailblazer, went to trial. In March 2024, following a five-day trial, a Shawnee County jury convicted Volle of first-degree felony murder, unintentional but reckless second-degree murder, and criminal possession of a weapon by a felon.
Volle was subsequently sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 51 years and eight months. His conviction was later appealed, but the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the jury's verdict. The case is now closed with the convictions of both men responsible for the death of Aaron Shepherd.
