Ex-Kansas City Cop Sentenced to Life for Walmart Parking Lot Shooting

Former KCPD officer Taquiza Johnson, 49, was sentenced to life plus 15 years for the 2024 fatal shooting of 71-year-old Ronald Barnett at a Kansas City Walmart.

Former Kansas City Officer Gets Life in Prison for Fatal Walmart Parking Lot Shooting

A former Kansas City Police Department officer will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars after shooting and killing a 71-year-old man in a Walmart parking lot in 2024, Law & Crime reports.

Taquiza Johnson, 49, was found guilty in June by a Platte County, Missouri jury on one count of second-degree murder and armed criminal action for the death of Ronald Barnett. The same jury recommended a life sentence.

This week, 6th Judicial Circuit Judge Myles Perry went further, sentencing Johnson to life in prison for the murder conviction plus an additional 15 years for the armed criminal action conviction — to be served consecutively. In Missouri, a life sentence carries a 30-year term before parole eligibility.

"Almost incomprehensible"

"It is almost incomprehensible that a brazen shooting like this could even happen in a busy Walmart parking lot during the middle of the day," Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said in a statement following sentencing. "By recommending the life sentence for murder, the twelve jurors in this case made an emphatic statement that crimes like this will be met with strict justice in Platte County."

The shooting took place on Aug. 21, 2024, in the parking lot of a Walmart near the Shops at Boardwalk shopping mall on North Boardwalk Avenue in Kansas City.

Two minutes, one fatal shot

Surveillance footage, reviewed by Kansas City Fox affiliate WDAF, showed Johnson leaving the store and walking through a crosswalk where Barnett was driving. Johnson extended his arm toward the vehicle. Barnett then reversed, stopped, and got out of his car. The two men interacted briefly — roughly 20 seconds — before each returned to his vehicle.

Barnett subsequently parked in an accessible space and began walking toward the store entrance. Johnson, according to court documents, drove toward the victim, exited his vehicle and approached Barnett with a gun hidden behind his back.

"There was another brief verbal confrontation in the driving lane between the two, and Johnson shot Barnett one time in the center of the abdomen," prosecutors stated in the press release. The entire sequence unfolded in less than two minutes.

After the shooting, Johnson drove away from the scene. Barnett was treated by paramedics and transported to North Kansas City Hospital, where he died shortly after arrival.

Within 10 minutes of the shooting, Missouri Highway Patrol troopers located Johnson's vehicle at a nearby apartment complex. He was arrested after having changed clothes.

Self-defense argument rejected

At the time of the incident, Johnson was no longer a law enforcement officer. He had served with the KCPD from 2004 to 2014.

During trial, Johnson claimed self-defense, arguing that Barnett had made verbal threats against his life during their first encounter. The jury rejected the argument.

On cross-examination, Johnson acknowledged that Barnett was unarmed and that he had not seen any weapon of any kind in Barnett's possession.

Zahnd addressed the legal standard directly in an earlier statement: "The instruction on self-defense in Missouri is clear. Verbal threats are not enough. Name-calling is not enough. A person claiming self-defense must establish that the perceived aggressor possessed, exhibited, or threatened to use a weapon readily capable of lethal force. Deadly force is not justified in response to fear of being grabbed or even punched. The old axiom is true — you cannot bring a gun to a fist-fight."

Source: Law & Crime