KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two men face charges after shooting into a downtown Kansas City, Missouri, apartment complex late Friday night.
Kimoni Williams, 23, and Sincere Miller, 23, are both charged with the unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.
Around 11:30 p.m. Friday, police received multiple reports of shots being fired in the area of 13th and Grand and 12th and Grand.
When a detective reviewed city cameras in the area, they saw Williams, Miller and a third male walking through a parking lot between 12th and 13th streets.
While reviewing the footage, the detective noted Williams was holding a handgun and Miller was holding an AK-47-style rifle.
After relaying that information to responding officers, including additional personnel who were working off-duty at the Power and Light District, those on the scene saw Williams and Miller shoot toward The Grand apartment complex.
Both were taken into custody without incident.
No one was injured, but three occupied apartments were damaged in the shooting.
In interviews with police, Williams said he was hanging out with mutual friends in the parking lot when they heard gunshots.
After retrieving his gun, he saw a green laser beam pointed toward him “multiple times” and was “paranoid,” per court documents.
When the group went to leave, they saw the beam was coming from The Grand.
“You all know what happened,” Williams told police when asked what happened next.
He said he fired twice at the person he believed was pointing the laser because he was “paranoid and fidgety.”
Williams also told police, “You already know the answer to that,” when asked if he thought he would hit his target.
Miller’s interview answers were similar. He said he “lost it” when the green beam was pointed at his daughter, who was in the back seat of the Mercedes-Benz as the group was hanging out in the parking lot.
Miller said he shot in fear for his life and his daughter’s life.
When he was asked if he thought he would hit his intended target, he said he often “goes to the range and can hit a target at 50 yards with his rifle.”
Police said the approximate range was 122 yards.
City cameras captured the green beam being pointed at the men.
In addition to the slew of KCPD officers (on and off duty) who heard reports of multiple shots in the area, a Titan security officer responded to the scene.
Police found a bullet he shot in the windshield of the Mercedes-Benz; he said he shot at the men because he thought they were shooting at him.
Williams and Miller are being held in the Jackson County Detention Center, each on a $25,000 cash-only bond. Neither has prior felony convictions.
“I understand the defendants may have felt threatened, especially seeing their child targeted by a laser. However, their response of allegedly firing blindly into an occupied apartment building endangered countless innocent lives,” Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said in a news release. “The defendants had clear alternatives: drive to safety, take cover, call police. Instead, they chose to discharge deadly weapons in a reckless manner that could have resulted in tragedy. While I have empathy for their fear in that moment, we will not tolerate this kind of dangerous decision-making with firearms.”
The two appeared in court Monday afternoon.
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