Police identify 12-year-old shot and killed in Leavenworth; 2 charged with murder

LEAVENWORTH — A 12-year-old boy who was shot and killed near a Leavenworth pharmacy was an innocent bystander, Police Chief Pat Kitchens said.

Brian Henderson Jr., of Kansas City, Mo., died after the shooting Wednesday night near the Kare Pharmacy, police said.

Police responding to calls about shots fired did not find any victims at the scene. Witnesses said several shots were fired at a black Volkswagen Jetta sedan by a suspect in the parking lot before the suspects fled.

Kansas City, Mo., police later notified Leavenworth officials that Henderson had died from gunshot wounds after being taken to a Kansas City hospital.

“It’s very clear that this young person was perfectly innocent, in the wrong place at the wrong time and suffered a terrible loss of life here,” Kitchens told WDAF-TV.

The Leavenworth County prosecutor has charged Darvon Thomas, 25, with first-degree felony murder. A 17-year-old is also charged with murder and firing into an occupied vehicle. A 15-year-old was arrested but has not yet been charged.

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