The Kansas City Defender

Black News, Politics, Arts & Culture

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

BREAKING: Bodycam footage shows the police lynching of unarmed Black teen Saveion McConnell.

A Missouri deputy shot at him 9 times. At least 6 of those shots came after Saveion was already incapacitated on the pavement.

The prosecutor says it was legal. Watch. 🧵

[Hartzell @HartzellForKC]

Why are we funding this?

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

BREAKING: Bodycam footage shows the police lynching of unarmed Black teen Saveion McConnell.

A Missouri deputy shot at him 9 times. At least 6 of those shots came after Saveion was already incapacitated on the pavement.

The prosecutor says it was legal. Watch. 🧵

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

We are publishing the full, unedited recordings and the prosecutor's memo so you can see all of it yourself.

View the full investigation here: https://t.co/fBmxCexrCU

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

Russell justifies one shot: a hand near a waistband. He never analyzes the second, or the ninth.

Even if one believed every word of the deputy's story. That would only justify the first shot. There are eight more, and six came after Saveion was on the ground.

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

For 4 and a half months the state hid this tape and hid the deputy's name. On Tuesday, Johnson County Prosecutor Robert Russell released a memo: no charges.

The memo was addressed to three police commanders. It misspells Saveion's name on every page.

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

Earlier on the same recording, one of the two officers says:

"Trying to find a Black kid at night, that's always fun."

Minutes later, they found one.

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

In the seconds before the gunfire, the officer standing next to Lewie can be heard yelling "Taser! Taser! Taser!"

The man beside him judged the moment called for a Taser. Lewie fired a gun. Nine times.

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

Saveion was 19. Went to Lee's Summit North HS in Missouri. Played sports. Was the only son among his mother's four children. He was unarmed & never charged with a crime.

On May 1, Lafayette County Deputy Kenneth Lewie hit him with a patrol car, then later opened fire.

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

BREAKING: Bodycam footage shows the police lynching of unarmed Black teen Saveion McConnell.

A Missouri deputy shot at him 9 times. At least 6 of those shots came after Saveion was already incapacitated on the pavement.

The prosecutor says it was legal. Watch. 🧵

[‎ Louis de Pointe du Blac @IkembaELShabazz]

Not a Game To Us: Police Budgets and the World Cup

@sunrisemvmtkc in collab with the @KCDefender & @DecarcerateKC, take a look at how the World Cup impacts police budgets and what the cost REALLY is... https://t.co/2hM06UXS1t

#BoycottWorldCup

[Eric Wahl @ziplamak]

Poignant story by @DirectorVaughan
for @KCDefender about Erica Green, the girl Kansas City came to know as Precious Doe: https://t.co/xFWY4n6hjP

[Octavia Butler's SUN @LesIzmoreKC]

The People's Free Store Comes to 31st & Prospect: KC Defender Distributes Hundreds of Free Clothing & Hygiene Items to Black People https://t.co/2DZeK3sX6n via @kcdefender

[Columbia Journalism School @columbiajourn]

This year's grantees include Wyoming Today, @KCDefender, @MSTODAYnews and @CalMatters, along with independent journalists Larkin Smith, Eryn Davis and Amanda Purcell.

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

@differencemakin Thank you so much Ken!

[Ken J. Makin @differencemakin]

A lot of us wouldn’t have known about what happened to Ralph Yarl without the courage and journalism of @KCDefender.

Much love and light to Ralph and his family as they continue to heal and hold people to account.

[SAVE A SEAT FOR ME (Simon & Schuster, 2026) @NewBlackMan]

She Spent 40 Years Collecting 20,000 Black Books. We Refused to Let Them Disappear.

How a 22-year-old, 40 organizers, and a newsroom fought to save Missouri’s oldest Black bookstore — and what comes next.
https://t.co/yrEsUrUYTA | @KCDefender

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

@CinemarxismBret Thank you! We also have a web version

https://t.co/mFdNculV18

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

Read the full piece here;

https://t.co/zZV4AyjVeZ

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

BREAKING: Kansas City is one of seven "mega centers" in ICE's planned nationwide concentration camp network.

A local real estate company, Platform Ventures, sold a taxpayer-subsidized warehouse to make it happen.

Federal agents are already terrorizing KC residents. 🧵

[The Kansas City Defender @KCDefender]

The federal government could pursue locations in neighboring Grandview, unincorporated Jackson County, or across the state lines.

Even with the moratorium, the federal government has vast authority to override local ordinances through eminent domain and the Supremacy Clause.