KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Law enforcement continues to investigate a a deadly shooting on Interstate 29 in the Northland that left one man dead.
It happened on Friday, Jan. 10 between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. near I-29 and 72nd Street.
Officers found a car in the nearby embankment and inside was 50-year-old Dennis Sharkey.
Sharkey was found to be shot and later died at the hospital. Platte County Sheriff detectives believe it might be a case of road rage.
At every Kansas City Chiefs home game for the last 30 years, you would find Sharkey tailgating with his friends and family in Lot C.
This weekend's playoff home game will look different for his tailgating family, who is now in mourning after his murder.
"He was a great man and he always made you smile," Dennis' cousin, Samantha Sharkey, said. "What happened to him was senseless and I don't understand."
50-year-old Sharkey wore many hats: a dedicated sports reporter, a supportive family man and above all, an avid Chiefs fan.
"If the Chiefs told him to get loud, he got loud," his family said. "He was part of the kingdom."
He planned to be at Arrowhead for Saturday's playoff game against the Texans, hoping for a shot at a three-peat in the dynasty.
"He'll be remembered. His jersey will be up there," Richard Brand, a family-friend, said.
Now his family and friends are trying to understand why he was shot and killed along I-29 while driving back from reporting on high school sports.
"It just doesn't make sense," family-friend Sadie Grigsby said. "You don't think it could be somebody you love and somebody so close to you, but it can happen to anybody. Please, if you just have anything please come forward cause this is no way for somebody to go. No way."
Platte County law enforcement believe Dennis may have been killed in a road rage incident, but they are still looking for answers themselves.
"Whether they think it's relevant or not, we'd really like to speak with anyone that saw the [2019 white Chevrolet spark] traveling southbound on I-29 between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to see if we can work backwards," Platte County Sheriff's Office Capt. Jeffrey Shanks said. "It takes the smallest thing to lead to more information or even if it gives us anything that indicates what occurred leading up to this incident."
His family is pleading for someone to say something.
"If you saw anything, please don't be afraid," Samantha Sharkey said. "It would help us out a lot."
Dennis' family is hopeful someone's courage to speak up will bring justice.
"If they're going to do it to somebody else do you want it to be your somebody else?" his family said. "We've got to stop them. That's what our justice looks like, putting somebody like that behind bars so that he can't do it again."
Saturday's tailgate won't be the same without Dennis, but he'll be cheering on the Chiefs like he has for the last three decades, just from a different seat.
"On Saturday I'm going to march down that yellow brick road like he always did," Grigsby said. "I'm going to yell extra loud, and maybe fan assistance will remove me."
Family members have started a GoFundMe for Sharkey's mother, whose husband passed away a few days before Sharkey's death.
"[His mother] lost her husband on Tuesday to a massive heart attack and then her son on Friday so she's going to need any and all support she can get," Brand said.
Police do not have any information on the suspect but say they are working with nearby businesses to obtain camera video. Sharkey was found in a white 2019 Chevrolet spark, going south on I-29.
Anyone with information about the murder of Dennis Sharkey should call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
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