Family grieves, asks for tips after teen is fatally shot in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A mother is speaking out after her teenage son was shot and left in a vehicle while attending a party.

She said losing her son just two weeks before his high school graduation is a level of pain no mother should ever have to experience.

Rodteshia Johnson and her family are still processing. It has been three days since her 17-year-old son was gunned down.

“You really don’t think it’s coming at your doorstep,” Johnson said. “When it gets to your doorstep, it’s different.”

“Not my grandson, not my daughter’s son,” the victim’s grandmother, Feleacia Johnson, said. “We’re broken.”

On Sunday around 2 a.m., investigators found Ricky Monroe unresponsive in a vehicle on Michigan Avenue.

Johnson said her son was in that area attending a party at an Airbnb.

“Ricky was the life of the party,” Johnson said. “He was the jokester. He was the fly guy. He was just a fun kid.”

Kansas City police are confident multiple people witnessed the crime, but it’s still unclear what led up to the shooting.

“I can’t sleep,” Johnson added. “My son was partying, he was having fun, and nobody knows anything. These kids don’t know anything, but they do know something and they are not speaking out. I don’t know what else to say.”

Currently, no suspects are in custody.

Monroe’s classmates and loved ones are holding a vigil in his honor. It will take place Saturday at 5:30 p.m. where the shooting took place.

If you know anything that could help police find who killed Ricky, call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

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