KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has been inundated with racist and sexist phone calls Monday, the prosecutor’s office said in a release that included a recording of one of the voicemails.
On that voicemail, a male voice used the n-word four times during an 18-second recording and also used two different misogynistic curse words, presumably aimed at Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker.
The man also threatened to “burn your house (expletive) down” and added: “Every last one of you that live there, we’re (expletive) coming for you.”
Baker’s office said the phone calls received “include violent threats to our employees and the elected prosecutor” in the wake of a decision last week not to file charges against the woman who shot and killed an off-duty Kansas City, Missouri, firefighter who was choking her boyfriend in the parking lot of an Independence gas station and liquor store.
Anthony Santi was making a delivery around 2:30 p.m. to the Road Star gas station near the intersection of U.S. 40 and Sterling Road, according to Independence police.
Santi, 41, and another man — Ja’Von Taylor, 23 — got into an altercation after Taylor became upset that the liquor store didn’t have cigars that he wanted.
The store clerk asked Taylor to leave and Santi also stepped in and asked him to leave.
Outside in the parking lot, Taylor retrieved a gun, which led to a scuffle with Santi.
A woman with Taylor tried to pull Santi off of him then picked up the gun after it fell to the ground.
She picked it up and pointed it at Santi, telling him to stop and that she was killing Taylor.
When Santi didn’t release Taylor from the chokehold, she fired one round, which killed Santi, then left the scene with Taylor in a vehicle.
The woman later returned when Independence investigators were still processing the scene and was taken into custody.
Taylor, who has a previous conviction for armed robbery in Missouri, was charged in federal court with felon in possession of a firearm.
But the Jackson County prosecutor’s office declined to file charges, noting that after a “careful review” it was determined that she acted in “defense of others.”
Baker’s office’s reiterated that Missouri law “required this case be declined” and gave a detailed explanation for why:
The facts of this case show that the victim of the shooting followed a man out of the store to his car following a verbal exchange between that man and a store clerk. Once outside, the facts specifically demonstrate that the shooting female fired a single shot in defense of the man who was being strangled. Her statement and actions were supported by an independent witness. That witness, who has professional medical training, described the man who was being choked as ‘totally defenseless.’ The witness noted that this man ‘couldn’t talk, couldn’t breathe (and) he was turning purple’ and his ‘eyes rolled back into his head.’ The witness believed that he heard the victim of the shooting say to the man he was choking, ‘I’m killing you.’ Finally, the witness said that the shooter was ‘begging him to stop’ and her ‘hands were shaking.’ These statements and video evidence from the convenience store support the defense of others provision as codified in Missouri law. Because of this, as stated, Missouri’s self-defense and defense of others law required that this case be declined.
Santi had worked for KCFD since 2011.
"As a close-knit organization, we are shocked by yesterday’s tragic loss of FF Santi, and my deepest sympathies go out to his family and friends," KCFD Fire Chief Donna Lake said in a statement after his death.
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