KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two men have been charged in connection with a 2023 shooting that left an 18-year-old dead in Kansas City, according to the prosecutor’s office.
SirMichael Harbin, 19, and Montell Essex-Benjamin, 21, are each charged with second-degree murder and armed criminal action, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release Wednesday.
The shooting was reported just before 4 p.m. on Nov. 13, 2023, near East 56th Street and Jackson Avenue. Kansas City police officers responded and found the victim lying in the front yard of a home. The victim, later identified as 18-year-old Joseph Hill, was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to court documents, police obtained surveillance video that showed shots being fired from a Dodge Charger at the victim and the home. The Charger then drove away.
Police later learned that the car had been reported stolen.
On the day of the shooting, police said officers found the Charger in a parking lot with two men standing near it. When police officers tried to talk to the men, they both ran away, according to prosecutors. Police pursued the pair, and both were eventually taken into custody.
One of the men was later identified as Essex-Benjamin.
In the months following the shooting, detectives obtained cell phone data that connected Essex-Benjamin to the shooting, placing him in the area of the shooting at the time it happened, prosecutors said. Gunshot residue was also found on his hands, the office added.
Prosecutors also said Harbin’s DNA was found inside the Charger and on a 9mm casing located at the shooting scene.
Both Harbin and Essex-Benjamin remained in the Jackson County Jail Wednesday.
No bond has been set for Essex-Benjamin, who is expected to have his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon.
Online court records were not immediately available for Harbin.
