Killa City: KCMO homicide No. 108, Kevin Beaver

Kansas City police haven’t officially released the name of Kansas City’s 108th homicide victim, but numerous news stories (here, here, here and here) have identified him as 40-year-old Kevin Beaver.

Beaver was shot to death Friday morning near 44th and Wyoming. Beaver was walking to McCoy’s Public House, where he was a prep chef, around 6 a.m. when a man attempted to rob him, police said.

Beaver put up a fight and was shot in the stomach.

The suspect ran north on Wyoming then east on Westport Road.

Beaver was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital, where he died from his injuries.

The Kansas City Star gives this heartbreaking note:

Beaver’s wife, Susie, missed the first call from authorities about the shooting but rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital once she found out.

“Beaver would say, ‘Don’t panic,’ ” Susie said. “I kept hoping it wasn’t serious. Couldn’t possibly be. I didn’t want to believe it. That sort of thing happens to other people, other sad people on TV.”

By the time doctors let her into his room in the intensive-care unit he was brain-dead. Doctors had cut off part of his lung to save him, but he lost too much blood.