On a cold January afternoon in 2014, Marlon J. Williams, a 40-year-old Black male from Shawnee, Kansas, was fatally shot in a brazen attack. The incident occurred around 3:15 p.m. on Thursday, January 16, in an outdoor passageway situated behind the City Hall in the 700 block of North Seventh Street in Kansas City, Kansas. Williams had reportedly been at the court that day to settle some parking tickets.
After being shot, he was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Marlon, who was born on August 14, 1973, was a lifelong resident of the Kansas City area. He was a graduate of F.L. Schagle High School and had attended Kansas City, Kansas Community College. At the time of his death, he was employed at a steel manufacturing company, Exltube, in North Kansas City, Missouri. Described by his mother as a kind man who loved children, Williams was a father to three daughters. His family and friends remember his beautiful smile and fun-loving spirit.
In the wake of the shooting, police began an investigation into the homicide. While authorities did not immediately comment on a motive, Williams's mother suspected it may have been connected to an upcoming court case in which her son was scheduled to testify. Initially, police released surveillance footage and later confirmed that two individuals seen in the footage had been contacted and were not considered suspects.
The investigation eventually led to a suspect, Jeffrey Wayne Platt Jr., then 26, of Shawnee. In February 2014, Platt was charged with premeditated first-degree murder in connection with Williams's death. However, the initial charge was later dismissed due to a lack of evidence. The case did not go cold, and three years later, in February 2017, prosecutors in Wyandotte County refiled a first-degree murder charge against Platt, once again accusing him of fatally shooting Marlon J. Williams.
