KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, police identified 16-year-old Jayson Ugwuh as the city's latest homicide victim Monday morning.
Ugwuh, who was a student at Raytown High School, was shot around 7:15 p.m. Sunday evening in the 5600 block of Paloma Avenue and later died at the hospital, becoming the third juvenile homicide victim from the same family in the last four years.
"We need to help this family to get some justice," Rosilyn Temple with KC Mothers in Charge said. "Someone knows something or they saw something or they even heard something. Speak out."
KCPD Det. Kevin Boehm with Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers said Monday morning that the Tips Hotline hadn't received any tips yet related to Ugwuh's death.
"Anytime detectives go to the scene of a situation like this, they do an excellent job of conducting area canvasses, talking to witnesses, interviewing people in the area," Boehm said. "In some situations, that information isn't helpful and so, at some point, they would turn to us and hopefully allow us to get the information out and encourage people to contact us."
Boehm said a reward of up to $25,000 is available for tips that lead to an arrest. He also wanted to remind the public that Crime Stoppers are separate from police department and allow tipsters can remain anonymous.
"When we receive information, we don't make any determination on if that is valid or not," Boehm said. "We take the information, we protect the tipster's identity and we send it directly to the detectives handling that case."
Jayson is the third young homicide victim in the family. His aunt, Aishah Coppage, confirmed that her son, 8-year-old Montell Ross, and nephew, 9-year-old Jayden Ugwuh, were killed in 2016.
"My heart goes out to this family, to the mom, the aunt, they're reliving this tragedy again," Temple said. "Step up. If it was a mistake, step up and turn yourself in or someone else turn them in."
The two children were killed while playing video games. Police believe the shooting was intentional, but that the children were not the targets.
"Just unfathomable actually," Boehm said. "That investigation is still ongoing. In the four years that have transpired since that, we've received a number of tips on that case. ... We would certainly encourage people if they information on that unsolved double homicide of two young kids to contact us and give us any information they have. There is not statute of limitations on a homicide."
The reward in that case is around $28,000, Boehm said, because of private contributions for information.
"For them not to have anyone in custody, no one has been charged in those two young kids' homicide, that's a problem," Temple said. "So, I challenge our community today to step up and do the right thing. Speak up for Jayson, but speak up for the two young babies that was killed years prior in this family."
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For jurisdictions that utilize the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline, anonymous tips can be made by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the 41 Action News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the 41 Action News Mug Shot Policy.
