KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Prosecutors have charged a second man in connection to a murder Monday in an Independence motel.
Tyler Ross, 29, last known address in Lee's Summit, is charged in Jackson County Court with second degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action and two counts of robbery.
Independence police officers found the victim, Thomas Galvan, with a gunshot wound just inside the door of the Executive Inn and Suites on East U.S. 40 Highway in Independence.
Ross was arrested Tuesday at a Northland motel.
He denied shooting anyone in a brief interview with police, a court record states.
Steven T. Decker, 26, of Independence, was charged Tuesday in Jackson County Court with second degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and two counts of robbery.
The murder happened about 4:20 a.m. in a room at the Executive Inn and Suites. Police went to the motel on a reported shooting and found Galvan on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head, according to a court document.
Galvan died at a hospital a short time later.
A woman told police Galvan came to her motel room around 11 p.m. Sunday to help celebrate her birthday.
She said Galvan called two men early Monday to give him a ride home, according to the court document.
Galvan got into an argument with Decker and another man about recent robberies.
Decker and the second man pulled out guns and ordered Galvan to "drop his pockets" and remove his shoes, the court document states.
The witness told police Galvan tried to grab one man's gun and was shot in the head.
The two men took a cell phone and Galvan's shoes before leaving the motel room.
Police arrested Decker at his Independence home Monday afternoon.
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