KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man is facing charges in connection with the deadly shooting of 29-year-old Elliott Herring in August 2019 along Interstate 49.
Jackson County prosecutors on Wednesday charged 27-year-old Douglas V. Griffin with second-degree murder and armed criminal action.
According to court documents, police responded to the report of a body along Red Bridge Road and U.S. 71 Highway/I-49 just after 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 19, 2019.
When officers arrived on scene, they found Herring next to a vehicle dead from a gunshot wound to the back of the head. Medical examiners also determined he suffered multiple contusions and abrasions to his head and legs.
Detectives learned Herring’s vehicle was sold to Griffin a few days before. They made contact with him where he stated someone had stolen it, and he was at his home the day before the killing, sleeping.
Griffin provided his phone to detectives where a search of text messages showed he was not sleeping during the time he said he was, and he was attempting to meet an unknown person at a McDonalds in the area of U.S. 71 Highway and Red Bridge Road.
In October 2020, Griffin stated he was with someone else the night of the killing and was driving when his vehicle broke down on the southbound U.S. 71 Highway ramp onto Red Bridge Road while they were on their way to rob a drug dealer.
After several unsuccessful attempts at getting a ride back home, he flagged down a vehicle that was passing by them. The driver pulled over to help get Griffin’s car started but refused to give him a ride.
When Griffin was by the rear of his vehicle looking for jumper cables, he saw the person he was with pull out a gun and shoot Herring, who then fell to the ground, court records say. The two then drove off in the victim’s vehicle where they later abandoned it.
