KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. These voices were shared by canvassing the neighborhood where the incident took place.Share your story idea with Ryan.
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An early Wednesday morning domestic violence incident killed one man who tried to help the victim, but his efforts likely gave another woman the ability to save her neighbor.
"He had his arm around her neck, and literally dragging her. She had no shoes on, no socks on," Raelinn Patty said. "She was fighting and she was screaming for help."
It wasn't Patty's normal get home from work routine after she finished her night shift early Wednesday.
She heard screaming outside her home and that's when she saw a "black male in a black beanie" dragging a woman across the parking lot of a nearby apartment building.
Patty says she immediately called police as the man dragged the woman behind an apartment building. Patty was able to continue describing what she saw to police dispatch.
At that point, she told KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa, a man she believed to be her neighbor, Tony Barron, was approaching and the two had a brief conversation.
The attacker let the woman go to get a gun, Patty said.
The victim was able to get free and ran to Patty. The two women barricaded themselves inside Patty's home.
"A lot of that conversation was keeping her calm, telling her to breath," she said. "I am really proud of her for handling it the way she did."
Patty said she then heard multiple gunshots outside the home.
The Warrensburg Police Department issued a statement Wednesday afternoon that the suspect in the domestic violence attack and the killing of Tony Barron, the Good Samaritan was an off-duty Whiteman Air Force Base Airman.
The man killed himself a few minutes after killing Barron.
"I would 100 times over move in next door to a neighbor like Tony," Marie, Barron's next door neighbor, who asked to appear off camera for privacy, told KSHB 41's Gamboa.
It's unclear what happened between the time Patty and the female victim went inside their home or what occurred between Barron and the suspect.
"Tony being Tony, he saved the intended victim, he likely saved the police officers and everyone else," Marie said.
She said Tony was a vibrant and friendly face in the neighborhood. The two often stood outside their apartments engaging in long conversations.
"He loved to come in with his music up loud and bumping," she said with a laugh. "You definitely would hear that speaker bumping and go, 'Tony's home!'"
Numerous neighbors told Gamboa that Barron passed away in the driveway of the neighboring apartment building. That's about 50 yards from where the deadly shooting occurred and another 50 yards from Barron's home.
According to Marie, Barron was a military service member who struggled with addiction. He graduated this week from a recovery program and was excited to spend Veteran's Day at his daughter's school.
"Living here by somebody who is such a success story, got in trouble, but did everything he had to do, and it’s one of the first people we met in this town and now he’s gone," she said. "That’s really a vivid picture of what the world is."
In a Facebook message, Barron's sister told Gamboa her brother loves his kids more than life itself.
"He also went to war in Afghanistan after 9/11 and he fought for our country," she wrote. "He seen some of his best friends die right beside him. He still continued to fight the great fight when he came home. He did have some PTSD, but he worked through it; got himself back on track."
"He is the best big brother. I am proud of all of his accomplishments," she said in her Facebook message. "I am proud of the man that he has become, and I am proud of the father that he is to his children.”
The Whiteman Air Force Base Office of Public Affairs declined to provide any more details regarding the off-duty airman.
A Warrensburg Police Department press release stated military regulations require the suspect's identity cannot be released for 24 hours following the notification of next of kin.
For now, the south side Warrensburg neighborhood works to rebuild and recover, leaving neighbors who stepped into action time to reflect.
"Honestly, if it were me in that situation, I’d hope somebody would help me," Patty said. "I think if I wouldn’t have intervened, or called 911, I truly believe he would’ve shot her. He would’ve drug her up there and would’ve shot her."
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