A former Parsons man received 18 years in prison for shooting and killing another man who was sitting in his car in a Kansas City, Kansas, park.
David Lamont Young III, 24, was charged in Wyandotte County District Court with first-degree murder, criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle. The case was later amended to murder in the second degree.
The shooting happened Aug. 15, 2021, in Matney Park in Kansas City, Kansas. Skylar Needham, 30, was playing Pokemon Go, which was his practice, in his vehicle in the park near Shawnee Drive and South 39th Street. Neighbors reported hearing as many as 16 gunshots. Police responded and found Needham.
Young was charged seven months after the shooting.
The U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force arrested Young in late April 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio, for the Kansas City homicide and a Labette County attempted murder case. He also faces probation revocation in Crawford County for a robbery conviction.
On July 15, Young pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree, a level one felony. On Aug. 30, a judge sentenced Young to 18 years in prison (216 months). Young has a significant criminal history that includes at least three felony crimes against persons so he could have received 54 years in prison for the murder.
The plea recommended the shorter prison term because of Young’s agreement to enter a plea, which saved the court and family of the victim the expense and grief associated with a jury trial, according to a motion filed in the case for a downward durational departure. The attorneys came up with the 216 months after mediation.
Young received credit for about 2.5 years spent in the Wyandotte County Jail awaiting the resolution of his case.
He still faces the attempted murder charge from Labette County and a probation revocation in Crawford County.
On March 5, 2022, five days after Young received probation instead of prison for robbing a Pittsburg convenience store, Parsons police alleged that Young shot Tyrone Mayweathers of Kansas. City multiple times in the parking lot of the former Somewhere Else Bar and Grill, 2106 Crawford.
The shooting followed a large fight in front of the bar.
Young has yet to appear in Labette County District Court on the attempted murder charge or in Crawford County on the probation revocation.
