KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri man charged with homicide in the July 2020 shooting of Lodillar Styles has been sentenced to life in prison plus seven years.
A Jackson County judge sentenced Johnathan L. Bradford, 41, to life in prison for second-degree murder, and seven additional years for four other convictions, including armed criminal action, tampering with a motor vehicle, abandonment of a corpse and fourth-degree assault. Bradford also pleaded guilty to two counts of felon in possession and was sentenced to seven years. Those sentences are set to run concurrently with others.
Court records say Kansas City police were dispatched on a shooting to 40th and Tracy where they found the victim in the middle of the street.
A witness, who police determined was in a large blue pickup truck with the victim and one other person, told police the victim picked her up and drove her to his apartment, where the suspect lived also.
The witness said the suspect was "smoking hash and was acting weird."
As they were preparing to leave, the victim was in the driver's seat, and the witness was in the passenger's seat. The victim pulled over to let the suspect out, who could not get out because the doors were locked. The victim asked the suspect not to pull on the door handles because child lock was on.
The victim then told the suspect to let the window down, reach out and open it that way. According to the witness, the suspect said, "OK," and then shot the victim in the head.
The victim's vehicle then hit a white van. Other witnesses heard the collision and saw a man pulling the bloody victim out the vehicle.
After a brief foot chase, police arrested the suspect and recovered a pistol of the same caliber used in the homicide. The suspect told police he was in the vehicle with the victim when "all chaos broke out."
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