Killa City: Ricardo D. Ross charged with killing Derrick L. Ashby

Jackson County prosecutors charged 26-year-old Ricardo D. Ross today with second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of 19-year-old Derrick L. Ashby.

Court records say Kansas City police officers responded to a call about a shooting at Ninth and Harrison around 5:09 a.m. Wednesday. When they arrived, they found Ashby’s lifeless body on a sidewalk near the street. They also discovered a 2008 white Dodge Caravan with blood on the driver’s seat and on the steering wheel and center console.

A witness told detectives that he overheard an argument between Ross and Ashby and then saw Ross shoot Ashby five times.

A second witness told police that the argument between Ross and Ashby woke him up. He claimed that he saw Ross pistol-whip Ashby and then shoot Ashby five times.

Both witnesses picked Ross out of police lineups.

Yesterday, Ross showed up at police headquarters and told detectives that he went to Ninth and Harrison to buy drugs. He said two black men tried to rob him. He told police that he fought the men and one ran off after he bit the guy in the face several times. Ross claimed another man charged him and that he shot the man several times. 

Ross dropped the gun and couldn’t find the keys to the van, so “he stated that he then went across the street and jumped the fence and laid down and went to sleep.”