Kansas City, Kansas police have identified the victim in a deadly shooting at a Family Dollar Thursday evening.
Shortly before 3 p.m., police received a call that a man had been shot multiple times. Police found Derrick Horton, 39, in critical condition inside the Family Dollar at 63rd and Parallel. He later died at the hospital as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to the torso and legs.
Officers said there was a fight in the parking lot that led to the shooting, but they don’t know what led to the altercation. They also don't have a description of the suspect, other than the fact he was driving a white sedan.
Horton owned Charlie D's Catfish and More to Go on Parallel Parkway, just down the street from the parking lot where he was fatally shot.
On Friday chairs outside the restaurant sat empty, and the doors of neighboring businesses were closed for the day.
The community appeared in mourning for the loss of a loving husband and father of three.
"It's hard when good people die. I mean none of us are perfect, but he was just a good man," Marlon Carter, Horton's friend, said.
Carter's friendship with Horton dates back to junior high. Since that time, Carter told us Horton also supported his community activism group, Rebuild Wyco. He opened the doors of Charlie D's to host a coat drive for the group last year.
Horton is the second friend Carter has lost this year to gun violence in his community. According to Kansas City, Kansas police, Horton's death marks the 24th homicide this year, compared to 21 at this time last year.
"It kind of takes so much away from you when you want the violence in your community to stop," Carter said through tears.
Although the chairs outside Charlie D's on Friday were empty, a symbol of the violence that claimed his friend's life, Carter is certain the seats at Horton's funeral will be filled.
"It's like taking a piece of you, your heart out," Carter said of the loss.
