KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City man faces multiple felony charges in connection with the September shooting deaths of two victims near Maple Park in Kansas City, Missouri's historic Northeast area.
Austin Stiles,18, faces two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of robbery, and four counts of armed criminal action, according to a charging document.
Stiles, whose birthday is in October, was a juvenile when the murders happened Sept. 18, 2024.
He turned 18 in October and will stand trial as an adult.
A second man, Jared Catarino, 20, of Overland Park, is charged in Jackson County Court with two charges of second degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and two counts of stealing a firearm.
Catarino is set for a jury trial in March 2025.
Officers located the two victims, Jimmy Bowman, 22, and Antonio Frazier, dead in the street on Lexington Avenue near Maple Park.
Surveillance video from a nearby apartment building revealed a dark blue Chrysler 300 parked on the east side of Lexington Avenue just before 7 p.m., according to the court document.
A man got out of the car and removed the car's license plate.
Minutes later, the video shows Bowman and Frazier walking through the park and a man in the driver's seat of the Chrysler 300 gets out and opens the car's trunk, the court document states.
Another man got out of the car as Bowman and Frazier approached.
The video surveillance shows at 7:09 p.m. the man on the driver's side of the car lifted his arm and the two victims back up, according to the court document.
He shoots one victim and appears to exchange gunfire with the second victim. Both of the victims fell to the ground.
Another witness told police he looked out his window and saw two men going through both victim's waistbands, the court document states.
KCMO detectives investigating the murders found Stiles and the car used in the double murders in the parking lot of a Red Roof Inn in Maryland Heights in St. Louis County, Mo.
Catarino, according to the court document, told police one of the victims lifted his shirt and he thought the two men were going to rob him of the gun he and Stiles were going to trade.
He told police the shootings were self-defense and that he felt bad one the victims was just 15.
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