Left: Ruslan Huseynov (Platte County Jail). Right: Dennis Sharkey Jr. (Passantino Bros. Funeral Home).
A Missouri man who allegedly shot a sports reporter dead on a highway during a road rage incident has been arrested.
Ruslan Huseynov, aged 34, is facing charges of second-degree murder, illegal weapon usage, and armed criminal action in connection with the death of 50-year-old Dennis Sharkey Jr.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, the incident occurred around 7 p.m. on Jan. 10 on Interstate 29 near Northwest 72nd Street just north of Kansas City. A couple driving in the area saw two vehicles come to a complete stop in the far right lane. They reported seeing the suspect vehicle directly in front of the victim vehicle. They saw a man emerge from the suspect vehicle holding a gun in his right hand. The witnesses sped around the two vehicles and heard a single gunshot as they were driving away. They called 911.
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Authorities rushed to the scene and found Sharkey’s car crashed into a fence off the highway. He was unresponsive and suffering from a gunshot wound. Doctors later pronounced him dead at a hospital, police said.
Investigators found a single 9 mm shell casing on the highway near where the road rage shooting occurred, according to the affidavit. Detectives identified Huseynov as the suspect after obtaining a search warrant for cell tower data to show the phones that were in the area at the time of the shooting.
Huseynov’s vehicle matched the one seen on surveillance videos from the time of the slaying, cops wrote. As they were investigating him, detectives discovered Huseynov had allegedly shoplifted from a grocery store on two different occasions, including a plate of food from a buffet.
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Cops took Huseynov into custody on the shoplifting charges Tuesday and questioned him about the road rage shooting.
Post-Miranda, Huseynov “adamantly denied owning a gun.” Cops then confronted him with a photo they discovered from his iCloud account of him holding a 9 mm handgun, the affidavit states. The suspect admitted he was the person in the photo but claimed it was his friend’s gun, the affidavit said. He couldn’t remember the name of the friend and described him as a “black male tattoo artist who worked near the airport,” cops wrote.
Huseynov continued to deny possessing a firearm but cops found a 9 mm handgun in a safe in his bedroom. On Tuesday, authorities said they determined the gun was the same one used to kill Sharkey.
“I can’t say enough about the dogged determination of investigators who refused to give up on this difficult case,” Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd told reporters at a press conference.
Zahnd said investigators are still trying to piece together what led up to the shooting.
Sharkey was a reporter for the Platte County Citizen. He was leaving a sports event he had been covering when the shooting occurred.
In addition to being a sports reporter, Sharkey was also the primary caregiver to his mother.
“He was her rock, her caretaker, and her provider,” a GoFundMe page said.
