OLATHE, KS — The Olathe Police Department has released new information in an early Saturday morning double homicide that has left police and a community shocked.
“It was a little after 1 or so and I got up because I wanted some ice cream, and I was in the kitchen fixing some and I opened the fridge and I heard pop pop pop,” Ron Messinger, a neighbor who witnessed the scene, said.
Messinger described what he remembered hearing early Saturday morning after shots rang out at an intersection near south Sunset Street and east Cedar Street in Olathe.
I’m dumbfounded about it. I never thought it would happen right in through here,” Messinger said.
Olathe police said they were shocked after finding 2 victims dead — 45-year-old Angela Santiago and 42-year-old Jose Arellano-Rascon — both from Tonganoxie, Kansas.
"I think homicide regardless is a shock and then an act of violence like this is a shock to the community, especially to a town like Olathe, Kansas." Sgt. Joel Yeldell said "This is our first homicide in the last 17 months, the last homicide was July 2020.”
Now, police are searching for answers and are asking neighbors to check their surveillance footage and be on the look out for a gray Ford F-150.
“There’s a couple of things about the truck that stand out. It does have a bed cover on the truck, it’s got tinted windows, it’s got six-point star wheels and nerf bars are on the passenger side and the driver's side,” Yeldell said.
According to Olathe police, the victims and the handful of suspects knew each other, so as of now they said they don’t believe the public is in any danger. However neighbors like Ron said this type of tragedy shatters their community, them feeling unsafe in their own home.
“Now that it happened I just won’t come out and work on my truck at night, I just get nervous,” Messinger said.
Now with limited information police say, in order to get justice for the two victims, they need the community's help.
—
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 KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
