KSHB 41 News anchor Taylor Hemness reports on stories across Kansas, including a focus on consumer issues. You can contact Taylor by email.
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In July 2021, LeRoy Lenning, 69, of Wellsville, Kansas, went with his daughter to buy a car from a private owner in Kansas City, Kansas.
They were meeting in a bank parking lot on State Avenue when a gun battle from a nearby store changed everything.
On Friday, Jan. 9, the Wyandotte County District Attorney's Office filed three charges in the case. Those charges included first-degree murder and were all filed against Angelo S. Hill, who is accused of firing shots in the incident.
But gunfire is not how LeRoy Lenning died.
Lenning's widow, Patricia, and I have been in contact for more than a year as I've worked to help her get some answers. Along the way, she told me more about her late husband and the investigation that has taken years.
Patty and LeRoy Lenning were married for 36 years, raising two daughters and building a farming business. I sat down with her in the barn that housed that business.
"It used to have, be packed with equipment," Patricia told me. "Which we had to sell after he was killed. I mean, I obviously couldn't use it anymore."
The barn also hosted LeRoy's funeral back in July 2021.
"They walked me out, and I saw how many people were here, and then I was just so happy for him, and at peace," Patricia said. "And through it, I just felt happy that so many people loved him."
LeRoy's life ended in July 2021. He was with his daughter in a bank parking lot in KCK.
"They went to the Community Bank in KCK. He was helping her purchase a car," Patricia said. "They went there to finish all the payments and get the title. I got a phone call from my daughter, screaming that he was dead."
Gunfire had broken out at a nearby store, and a man was driving away from the scene when he veered into the parking lot where the Lennings were.
KCKPD said the driver hit a parked car that slammed into LeRoy and pinned him against another car. He died at the University of Kansas Hospital before his wife could get to him.
In January 2026, for the first time in this case, I was able to sit down with KCKPD Deputy Police Chief Raymond Nunez. I asked him about the timeline of a case that had dragged on for years.
"The timeline has always been, someone committed a crime," Nunez told me. "I think now is a good time to try to get more people, more eyes on this particular case. Then, hopefully people who were there that day will come forward."
During my correspondence with Patricia, she'd detailed her frustration about how long the case had gone without any charges being filed.
Nunez told me that he was aware of her concerns.
"There's certain aspects that we try to hold close to the chest because we don't want that to get out," Nunez said. "We've kinda held out speaking with you, but the expectation on both sides would be a little patience because these cases can be a little difficult at times. There's a timeline, and sometimes it doesn't match the family's timeline. We'll never stop looking into the case."
Just three days after my conversation with Nunez, the Wyandotte County DA filed charges.
It signals, potentially, the end of a long road for Patricia Lenning, who told me that she was always hopeful someone would be held accountable for her husband's death.
"I struggle going between I need to do this for him, and then, going back to I can't do this anymore," she told me. "I just try to think what he would be proud of me doing, and that's kind of how I try to deal."
KCKPD told me that the man charged Friday with murder in this case, Angelo Hill, is already in federal prison on another charge.
The Wyandotte County DA also charged Hill with criminal discharge of a firearm and aggravated assault.
Again, Hill is not the person who hit and killed Lenning with his car. Police tell me that Hill fired the shots outside of the nearby store, and the person who hit Lenning was driving away from the gunfire.
I have already reached out to the DA's office for documents that detail how those connections were made, and I hope to share those soon.
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