I-29 shooting victim: Platte County coach reflects on legacy of newspaper reporter killed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The search is on for a killer after gunfire erupted on I-29 killing a newspaper reporter. Platte County Sheriff’s deputies found Dennis Sharkey Jr. dead inside of his car near Northwest 72nd Street.
Sharkey, 50, poured so much effort into covering local high school games. Platte County coaches are ing him for all he did to highlight their program’s successes.
It still doesn’t feel real for those who worked with Sharkey when he was out reporting but the impact he left on local sports was huge. Those who walk into the library of Platte County High can find stacks of Platte County Citizen newspapers saved. Most of the sports sections were written and photographed by Sharkey himself capturing big moments. Something coaches are forever grateful for.
Head football coach Bill Utz of Platte County High called his work “priceless.”
Dennis Sharkey may be gone but the work he leaves behind will last a lifetime for Coach Utz.
“It’s a great memory, obviously it’s a fun time and something to enjoy,” Utz said while looking through Sharkey’s work on his team. “And then to be able to go through everything is kind of a reminder to the good times with it even though it’s a sad tragedy.”
It was only one month ago when Sharkey covered the Pirates winning the Class 5 state title. Coach Utz is forever grateful Sharkey captured those moments.
“It’s humbling to see the work that he did and something that he can leave in his legacy,” Coach Utz added.
Platte County Deputies believe Sharkey was coming from covering a sporting event Friday night before being shot and killed on I-29 heading south.
“We do know both the suspect and victim’s vehicle stopped on the interstate,” Capt. Jeffrey Shanks explained. “The suspect got out of his car and shot into the victim’s vehicle as the victim tried to drive off.”
Deputies still believe more witnesses are out there.
“If you were in that area -- Berry Road and 72nd Street on Friday between 6:50 pm and 7:10 p.m. and have any type of camera footage from your in-car system or anything else we would like to be ed,” Capt. Shanks pleaded.
Never being able to see Sharkey at any game still seems unreal for Coach Utz. Sharkey’s storytelling is what he’ll the most.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Oh I’m this big ESPN guy or whatever but when you put in the time to the high school level it really shows the purpose and effort to what he’s doing,” Coach Utz said.
The reward for any information to lead to an arrest of Dennis Sharkey’s shooter right now sits at $2,000. The Platte County Sheriff’s Office says you can also remain anonymous if you report anything to 816-474-84777 or log on to KCcrimestoppers.com. There’s also the P3Tips.com mobile app.
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