Background: The location of the car wash close to the junction of South Crane and East 23 streets in Independence, Missouri (Google Maps). Inset: Trey Parker (Jackson County Sheriff’s Office).
A man in Missouri is accused of stabbing his friend to death because the victim was wearing his Kansas City Chiefs sweatshirt and “taunting” him.
Trey Parker, aged 23, is facing charges of second-degree murder and armed criminal action, as indicated by court documents. The event took place on Friday when friends were preparing for a visit to a casino.
According to a probable cause statement examined by Law&Crime, Parker was at his residence with the victim and the victim’s mother because his own mother was hosting a garage sale. As the evening set in and the sale concluded, another individual joined the suspect and the victim and they made plans to head to a nearby casino.
However, as this new individual and the mother of the victim were “preparing a vehicle for departure,” Parker and the victim began to quarrel outside the vehicle in a neighboring parking lot, as stated in the court document. The dispute reportedly involved a sweatshirt the victim was wearing, which “belonged to [the] Suspect.”
A witness mentioned seeing some “shoving,” and after the victim got into the vehicle, he claimed “he” had stabbed him and requested a ride to the hospital. The victim, along with his mother and the newly-arrived man, “then drove off and found an ambulance,” stated a detective from the Independence Police Department.
The victim’s mother “clarified that there was no one else near” her son “who could have inflicted the injury aside from” Parker, according to the probable cause statement.
The suspect’s mother also gave her version of events. She said she saw the “heated confrontation” between the two friends, with the victim wearing Parker’s red Chiefs hoodie “and taunting him with insults.”
She reportedly told police that she did not see her son attack the victim but later heard from him that he had a knife and “barely tapped” the victim “to get him to back off, not believing he caused serious injury.” Parker’s mom also apparently said her son remained at home for a while until convincing a friend to give him a ride somewhere else.
Police reviewed nearby surveillance footage that showed parts of the altercation. Parker is said to have “approached” the victim, and they “stood face to face” before Parker “produced an item and waved it around in his right hand.”
“Suspect then made a sudden move toward Victim, raised his right arm towards Victim, and stabbed him,” the court document states, noting that the victim could be seen “immediately after holding his left rib cage area.”
Police were dispatched just after 8 p.m. to a car wash near the intersection of South Crane and East 23 streets in Independence, where they were told “paramedics had a victim of a stab wound on scene.”
The paramedics reportedly told officers that “a male was dropped off by a vehicle seeking medical attention.” The paramedics brought him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Parker was not arrested until Monday. After being read his Miranda rights, he reportedly admitted that he and the victim were “in an argument over a sweatshirt.” He claimed the victim “approached” him “on his property,” stating the victim had a knife and made a “stabbing” and “slashing” motion at him and that he stabbed him in self-defense.
Police weren’t convinced. According to the court document, they told Parker they had video evidence contradicting his statement. When they placed him back in his holding cell, he is said to have pulled back from his original account of events.
“He may not have swung the knife at me,” Parker reportedly stated.
Jail records show Parker’s birthday is Sept. 23, indicating he was arrested a day before his birthday. He had an initial appearance in court on Wednesday, and he is scheduled for a bond review hearing on Sept. 30.
Parker had previously been arrested or convicted on charges of tampering with a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property, possessing a controlled substance, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, according to police.
