KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal jury convicted a Kansas man for taking part in a retaliatory shooting that injured two people, including a federal task force officer.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, 24-year-old G’Ante Butler of Kansas City, Kansas, was found guilty of one count of forcible assault on a federal law enforcement officer and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
On August 3, 2020, Kansas City, Kansas police officers responded to a “shots fired” call on Farrow Avenue, where the defendant’s parents lived. Later that evening, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Special Agents and federally deputized Task Force Officers (TFOs) went to North Allis Street and arrested one of the individuals responsible for the earlier Farrow Avenue residence shooting.
After executing a search warrant at the North Allis Street residence, and as the officers were returning to their vehicles, multiple shooters began firing at them. The officers tried to immediately take cover, however, not before an officer and a civilian bystander were struck by gunfire.
Based on evidence gathered during the subsequent investigation, ATF agents learned the shooting was orchestrated by G’Ante Butler and other individuals in retaliation for the earlier incident on Farrow Avenue. Their plan was to shoot at the North Allis Street home and any individuals they encountered there. Officers later recovered approximately 101 casings and two live rounds (including 9mm, .40 caliber, .45 caliber, 5.56 caliber, and 7.62 caliber casings) from an alley west of the targeted North Allis Street home.
Co-defendants Nadarius Barnes, 24, Chase Lewis, 23, and Donnell L. Hall, 28, all of Kansas City, Kansas, each pleaded guilty to one count of forcible assault on a federal law enforcement officer and one count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
A fifth defendant is scheduled to stand trial in February 2024.