For Immediate Release
Dec. 13, 2016
A 20-year-old Kansas City man has been charged with Murder 2nd Degree in the Dec. 4 fatal shooting of Phillip Diaz in Independence, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced today.
Tyrone E. Willard II, dob: 10/5/1996, faced Murder 2nd Degree and Distributing or Delivering a Controlled Substance.*
According to court records, Diaz was found on the evening of Dec. 4. He had been shot in a parking lot of the Hawthorne Apartment Complex on E. 5th Street North in Independence. Independence police tracked a car described at the scene of the shooting to an associate of the defendant. A search of the suspect vehicle found human blood. A check of text messages on the victim's phone found his last message was to the defendant. The defendant stated he met the victim for a drug deal and Diaz was shot during that transaction in the suspect vehicle.
This case remains under investigation.
Prosecutors requested a bond of $150,000.
For more information, contact:
Michael Mansur
Director of Communication
Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office
Jean Peters Baker, Prosecutor
Work : (816) 881-3812
Mobile: (816) 674-3954
mmansur@jacksongov.org
http://jacksoncountyprosecutor.com
*Charges are only accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until the defendant is either found guilty or has pleaded.