KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County judge convicted two street gang members Friday in a mass shooting in January 2024 at the Shops at Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Joel Olivas, 24, and Brian Favela, 23, were found guilty of two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon, two counts of Armed Criminal Action and three misdemeanor counts of Harassment in the 2nd Degree, according to a news release from the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office
The judge dismissed one count of Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Armed Criminal Action. He found not enough evidence was shown to overcome Missouri's self-defense laws on those two counts, the news release states.
The shooting, which wounded six people, happened at 5:45 p.m. near the food court in the lower level of the shopping area.
A police spokesman said at the time dozens of officers went to the shooting scene to search for victims, suspects and to secure the area when the shooting ended.
None of the shooting victims suffered life-threatening gunshot wounds.
Olivas and Favela were allegedly members of a KCMO street gang known as the 9th Street Mob, according to a court document.
The two men found out members of a rival gang were at the shops and went there with violent intentions.
"Today's verdict points to a level of accountability that this office will seek for individuals who engage in this kind of insidious conduct, even when the defendants are armored with Missouri's very generous self-defense laws," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker stated in the news release. "We will take every step possible to hold offenders accountable for their own criminal behavior. I'm grateful for this trial team who worked so hard and so quickly to get these offenders to trial. And I am so grateful for the management team at Crown Center and Hallmark and the KCPD, who helped in every possible way to get today's verdict."
Olivas and Favela are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 12 in Jackson County Court.
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