Man arrested after 3 women found dead at Kansas City home, police said
Three women and a dog were killed at a Missouri home on Sunday and a suspect has been charged with murder, officials said.
The women were found dead at a home in Kansas City after someone contacted police around 12:41 a.m. Sunday about a shooting, the Kansas City Police Department said in a news release. When officers arrived, they found 49-year-old Jodie Hopcus, 73-year-old Sherri Duncan and 24-year-old Hailey Hopcus unresponsive.
Members of the Kansas City Fire Department pronounced all three women dead at the scene, as well as a dog that had been shot, Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said at a press conference Monday morning.
He added that the ex-boyfriend of one of the victims, Armando Navarro Jr., had been arrested in connection to the killings. He was found in Abilene, Kansas, about 170 miles west of Kansas City and has been charged with three counts of first degree murder, assault in the first degree, four counts of armed criminal action, and animal abuse.
Navarro is being held without bond in Kansas and will be extradited back to Platte County, which could take a few weeks depending on whether he decides to fight extradition, Zahnd said.
Woman tried to shield daughter from suspect before dying
According to Zahnd, the daughter of one of the deceased victims survived and ran to a neighbor's home for help. She's the one who identified the shooter as her mother's ex-boyfriend.
She told police she lived at the home with her mother, her sister, her grandmother and Navarro. According to the surviving victim, who was not identified, her mother and Navarro had been arguing for at least an hour. During that argument, her mother told Navarro to leave, to which he replied he didn't want to and had nowhere to go, the attorney said.
"Navarro then allegedly came out of his room armed with a small handgun and started shooting at them," Zahnd said at the press conference.
The surviving victim said he shot her mother in the upper arm. Navarro ran out of bullets and retrieved a different gun before shooting the mother in the face, Zahnd said.
According to the surviving victim, her sister told her to get out of the house. Navarro then shot at her sister and also at the surviving victim as she tried to escape, Zahnd said.
Once she escaped, the surviving victim ran from the house to a nearby home. While there, she heard a car start and saw her mother's vehicle leaving the home.
The vehicle was eventually tracked a few hours away in Abilene, part of Dickinson County in Kansas, Zahnd said.
He added that Navarro's son called the Kansas City Police Department and asked them to check on the victims. He said his father called him around 2 a.m. and said he "killed them all."
Suspect facing life in prison
According to Zahnd, Navarro's first degree murder charges carry a minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Zahnd said he wants to speak to the victims' family and will review the case to determine whether or not his office will seek the death penalty.
"Whatever decision I ultimately make in that regard falls heaviest on the surviving family members," he said. "(The surviving victim) saw her mother, her grandmother and her sister shot to death. Those facts are horrific, and again, that's why my prayers go out to her and and her entire family. Today is not the day to for me to make that decision."
Zahnd did not answer questions from local reporters about the surviving victim's age, how long the suspect had been living in the home or whether there had been previous calls to the home for domestic violence incidents.
According to the probable cause statement, the surviving victim's mother and Navarro argued often.
A GoFundMe was started to raise money for the victims. As of Tuesday morning, the fundraiser had garnered over $13,000.
During the press conference, Zahnd called the crime "horrific."
"It's one of the worst crimes that I've prosecuted in my 22 years of prosecution," he said. "Three women are dead and a surviving victim lost her mother, her grandmother and her sister. My prayers are with the entire family, and I want you to know that we will utilize the full weight of Missouri law to bring this defendant to justice."
It was not immediately clear Monday afternoon who is representing Navarro in court.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.