KANSAS CITY, Mo – Police have identified the man accused of shooting his family members and then himself in a Northland neighborhood Friday.
Originally police said the suspect, later identified as 30-year-old James Jolly, shot both of his parents in the 5100 block of NW Linden Road, but as investigators spoke with family they learned that the shooting victims were actually Jolly’s mother and the suspect’s 69-year-old uncle, Dennis Honey, who was found dead at the scene.
“It’s pretty shocking,” said neighbor Greg Sturtridge, who says police told him he had to leave his house and he wasn’t sure why.
When he got outside he noticed Honey’s yard was covered in crime scene tape. He says he was confused because his wife had just gone over there a few hours ago to visit.
“That made it even weirder she had just talked to them. Everything was fine,” said Sturtridge.
In those hours after, police say something went horribly wrong. They got a 911 call and when they got to the home they found Jolly’s mother and Honey, who are both in their 60’s, inside a pickup truck. Honey was dead and the woman was shot in her stomach. Police say the two were brother and sister. Minutes later they say they spotted Jolly who ran back inside the home and killed himself.
Investigators later learned that the gunman was very closely related to the victims. Police say the woman he shot was his mother, and the man he shot and killed, was his uncle.
“His sister from Arkansas, they came up here occasionally to stay. They’d stay for weeks at a time,” Sturtridge said.
Police who patrol the neighborhood said they are very familiar with the suspect but neighbors say the home was always very quiet and they never saw police cars nearby.
“I’d never heard of anything or seen anything where this happened,” said Sturtridge.
Neighbors say the suspect and his mother stayed to themselves but that Honey always greeted them with a smile. The same smile Sturtridge said he was greeted with the morning of the double shooting incident.
“The man that got killed was on the porch and asked how was everybody doing,” said Sturtridge.
The suspect’s mother is in critical condition at North Kansas City hospital but is expected to survive.
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