KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 19-year-old Independence, Missouri man faces charges in connection to a December 2022 deadly shooting over the sale of drugs.
Jackson County prosecutors charged Chadd J. Williams with second-degree murder, robbery and two counts of armed criminal action.
According to court records, on Dec. 18, 2022, Independence police officers responded to a man down call at the Brookside Apartments near S. Brookside Avenue and E. Truman Road.
Officers found a man inside a parked vehicle in the back parking lot. The victim, who had been shot once in the chest, was identified as 19-year-old James D. Smith.
Video shows Smith’s vehicle followed by the arrival of two men, who enter the victim’s vehicle and struggle with the victim.
Detectives used cell phone and social media data to identify Williams and connect him to the deadly shooting.
Court documents say Williams used SnapChat to organize a drug sale with the victim. A meet location was decided which led Smith to the apartments where he was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint for an unknown amount of drugs and resulted in his death by a single gunshot wound to the chest.