Investigators share new details in unsolved KC killing

Misty Kirwan has little to celebrate this Christmas. She’s not planning parties or putting up a tree.

The holidays are just another reminder that her only child, Chris Bartholomew, is gone.

Bartholomew, 21, was fatally shot in the back of the head in a Walgreen’s parking lot near Westport on May 20, 2007. He was an innocent victim caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting.

Kirwan helped raise a $30,000 reward and got billboards posted. But police haven’t received a valid tip for a year.

Investigators on Tuesday shared new details to focus more attention on the unsolved homicide at 39th Street and Broadway.

Police said they thought that four cars were involved. They have identified four occupants of a black Dodge Charger, which fled down an alley before the fatal bullet was fired. But they need help identifying the occupants of the other three cars.

The four cars, containing rivals in a violent feud, converged at the crowded intersection that night as hundreds of people leaving taverns milled on the streets.

Bartholomew was there to give a friend a ride home, but the friend had wandered off.

The Charger was headed west on 39th and preparing to stop for a red light when a blue Isuzu Rodeo pulled up close in the next lane. A silver or gray Pontiac G6 trailed the Rodeo.

Police aren’t sure exactly what happened next, but investigators said they thought that occupants of the Rodeo and Pontiac began shooting into the Charger. Witnesses heard yelling and cursing.

Occupants of the Charger fired back. Witnesses saw some men standing outside the cars shooting and others shooting from their car seats.

The bullet-riddled Charger with shattered windows escaped down the nearby alley.

The Pontiac jerked into reverse and backed up to pull into the Walgreen’s parking lot.

The Rodeo sped west to the intersection and north on Broadway.

A maroon car, possibly filled with occupants aligned with the Charger’s occupants, raced to follow the Rodeo onto Broadway.

Occupants of the Pontiac fired from Walgreen’s parking lot toward Broadway while gunmen in the Rodeo and maroon car apparently fired at each other.

Bartholomew was standing on stairs between the parking lot and the Broadway sidewalk when the trio of bullet-spewing cars sandwiched him.

He pushed a homeless man down and out of the way but caught a bullet to the back of his head as he tried to duck.

In all, police said they thought six guns were fired during the rolling gunbattle.

Police later found the Charger on 39th Terrace.

The Rodeo’s driver dropped off a wounded passenger at a hospital. He survived a torso wound.

Police later found the Rodeo with bullet holes along the driver’s side abandoned in the city. It had been reported stolen.

The Pontiac was returned to a rental company with no bullet holes, but some damage to the back end.

Police determined that two occupants of the Charger suffered minor graze-type wounds.

Weeks later, one of the occupants was accused of firing 30 rounds at a Kansas City police officer during a traffic stop. The wounded officer survived. The suspect remains behind bars.

The rival groups tied to Bartholomew’s shooting had been involved in several other shoot-outs in previous months, said homicide Detective Janice Heins.

The suspects were bold, Heins said. They weren’t deterred by the presence of a parked police car on Broadway with its lights flashing.

“That’s how reckless and out of control these people were,” she said.

Heins has struggled to bring a case to prosecutors because of the complicated crime scene and the no-snitching mentality of those involved.

“There were so many people involved and so many guns,” she said. “But I believe it’s possible to charge someone eventually.”

Kirwan said she thought that no one was safe in Kansas City until the shooters were locked up.

“They didn’t look. They didn’t care. They didn’t think,” she said. “They didn’t care that anyone else was around.”

Anyone with information should call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (474-8477). Callers can remain anonymous.