Harry Stone was on one of his usual jogs in a Kansas City suburb shortly before 7:30 a.m. Sunday when an approaching car slowed down and a passenger shot him.
The vehicle kept going without stopping, and Stone, 60, later died at a hospital.
Nearly a week later, police in Raytown, Missouri, say they have no suspects, and no one has any idea why he was targeted.
He wasn’t robbed. He didn’t have any known enemies. And a gang-initiation hit appears implausible, Raytown police Capt. Ted Bowman said.
“Even grasping at straws and imagining motives, we have been able to find nothing in the man’s background or time or place or associations or his relationships or his history,” Bowman said Thursday.
“Literally, we can find no motive,” he said.
Stone was a homeowners’ association leader and the husband of a pastoral assistant – she was supposed to preach Sunday morning at Raytown’s St. Luke United Methodist Church, CNN affiliate WDAF reported.
He was shot near an intersection by a gas station. Surveillance video from the station shows the shooting, though police have released only footage of a few seconds before the shot, Bowman said.
The video shows a dark-color, four-door car. Police say they don’t know the model or the license plate number. Bowman said a witness was able to describe only the passenger, and the description was light on details: a young African American male with a short Afro-type hairstyle.
A Kansas City police spokesman, representing a multiagency detective squad that looked into the shooting, initially told local media that the killing could have been part of a gang initiation, as CNN affiliate KCTV reported.
But Bowman said Thursday that detectives have determined this probably wasn’t the case.
“We have not found any of the street gangs, that we’re aware of, to make that an open part of the initiation process,” he said.
People who knew Stone told KCTV that he enjoyed serving others, doing things such as helping to build a park next to his church. His daughter, Susan Li, told reporters Monday that he prided himself in keeping physically fit and hoped to get back into running marathons.
Li asked for people with information about the shooting to come forward.
“He was in constant service … to the community, and the community now has the opportunity to be in the service of justice,” she said.
Sadly.....I suspect "Justice for Trayvon".
People have no idea how many race attacks by blacks on whites have occurred since the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman incident hit the media with full fury. The mainstream media is collectively ignoring all the attacks by blacks on whites that has occurred since then. Yet they were so quiick to jump on the "George Zimmerman is evil" mantra that CNN, NBC, and ABC reported dishonestly on the matter, including doctoring the 911 call to make Zimmerman out to be a racist. It's saddening. Truly saddening.
Now, don't accuse me of racism. In fact, I'm black. But I'm interested in the truth, I have no agenda other than that. This whole matter is truly saddening.
Thank you for a voice of reason from a person of color. What saddens me is that most black people are hard working, caring and kind, and the media fuels the flames of racism.
That was my thought also – 'justice for Trayvon'. Unfortunately the blacks have been told that a) anything done against them justifies unlimited retribution, and that b) only the whites are capable of racially motivated crime. And the President's only response to ANY of this is to occasionally fan the flames.
Are you being sarcastic or are you serious? If you're serious, that's a really evil thing to say.
These days being white is the only reason needed...even though the lame- stream media doesn't tell you about all the crimes against whites....it's happening!
are you people so stupid that you dont realize that blacks are targeting whites out of pure hate. its a hate crime plain and simple. if a group of white people shot a random black guy it would the crime of the century but when a group of blacks shoot a white person there is no explanation. come on people wake up because they are attacking whites all over the country because they can get away with it because you're to scared to speak up on whats really happening
I have to agree with you, commonsense. The young blacks have been trained to hate white people and there is no rehabilitating them. The only cure is to aerate their bodies to allow more oxygen to reach their brains. 30.06 makes just right sized hole.
Yet another hate crime against whites. I noticed last night there have been a lot of attacks in Texas. Race of victims often hard to come by, but you can bet they are white if no pictures posted. Like the 79 year old woman clerk at gas station set on fire.
Nice race war Obama started in America, I thought Obama would rise above all this race bigotry like Martin Luther King did and further unite people but the opposite has occurred.
Yep, there has been a lot of black on white violence and it's because the cops keep killing blacks and getting away with it and for no apparent reason. The govt is behind this too wanting to create a race war to divert the public away from the shenanigans going on in DC and around the Globe. Remember, folks if we are fighting and killing each other the turds at the top just laugh and enjoy watching the slaughter because it keeps them insulated from us knowing what they are really up to. Don't buy into this race war and learn to get along with your brethren.
If you are saying that "Obama started this race war", then you must think it has only been going on for 3-1/2 years. You are either totally misinformed or a racist who blames "the black guy" for everything. Probably both.
This is the society we live in today some fool probably did it because he thought it would be fun.
Payback for Trayvon. Thanks Sharpton, Thanks Barack.
true that
Another win for Trayvon!
barney and andy from mayberry could solve ths case before these yahoo's could, what a joke
Why lost? Its just more of the War blacks have declared on White America
The motive is simply that they were doing what Reverend Al Sharpton asked of them when, during the Trayvon Martin protests, he said that protesters should escalate.
Um...Drudgites, if anyone is to blame for this supposed "race war" (aside from your favorite internet web"master"), wouldn't be the folks who loaded a bunch of Africans on ships to get free labor? Abused, impregnated, then "set free". it was only a generation ago you could legally string a black person up in a tree (altho, I'm sure you wish you could do it now) and take proud pictures of the event. your ignorance/frustration is hilarious...don't worry, the south shall rise again.
I am insulted by many of the comments on this article. This is not a race issue, a gang issue, or anything like that. It was an act of random violence. I am the victim's nephew, and I can assure you that all the family cares about is seeing the shooter put to justice. The last thing this community needs is more guns going around. I myself support the 2nd amendment, but I will never carry a firearm in public. A majority of unregistered firearms used in robberies and murders have been stolen from the people that Conceal Carry.
My Uncle would want the same thing the rest of his family wants; awareness. Crimes like this can be prevented if we all just do our part and look after one another.
Instead of speculating on the racial or political aspects of this incident, I hope that everyone would instead focus their thoughts and prayers toward the family and friends who have suffered a terrible loss.
Just because they haven;t yet discovered a motive do not mean that there isn't one. Follow the steps of the investigation and maybe you might be surprised. They sound like they are just giving up.