KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City police are still searching for whoever is responsible for gunning down two young men near the Power & Light District last August.
Austin Quijas and Leo Moreno Jr. were friends and cousins whose lives ended tragically in the early morning hours of Aug. 25, 2019.
As the bars closed, a group of friends, including Austin and Leo Jr., started walking down Walnut Street toward their cars.
That’s when gunshots rang out. The two young cousins were gunned down on the street.
“He went out to watch the Chiefs game and then he messaged me and told me to come, that he was getting a table at Angel’s Rock Bar,” Austin’s sister Natalie Quijas said with tears in her eyes.
“I told him I was coming, and I never went. After that, I fell asleep and I got the call at three in the morning that he’s been shot.”
“It was just the worst feeling ever, to find out that someone took his life. Nothing you can do about it,” Leo Moreno Sr. said.
With the double shooting happening in such a highly traveled area, tips poured in after it happened. But over the last several months, leads slowly dried up.
“From the perspective of Crimestoppers, we have taken roughly a half dozen tips on this particular case. Most of them came in within the week or two after the even occurred,” said Det. Kevin Boehm with Kansas City Metro Crime Stoppers.
Detectives do not believe the shooting was random; however, at this point, investigators are still searching for a possible motive.
“We don’t really have any indication for a motive. We don’t know at this point if it was retaliation or what it was,” Boehm said.
Both law enforcement and the victims’ families are hoping that someone will come forward with new information that can help solve the case.
“If they don’t care about our kids’ lives, there’s more to come from those guys,” Leo Moreno said. “Once a killer is going to be always a killer. And if they’ve done that and took my son’s life, I think they need to pay for what they’ve done.”
There is a $25,000 reward for information in the case. If you know who killed Leo Moreno Jr. and Austin Quijas, call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
You can watch the families’ plea, shared in Spanish, in the video below.
Hay una recompensa de $ 25,000 por información en el caso. Si sabe quién mató a Leo Moreno Jr. y Austin Quijas, llame a la línea directa de TIPS al 816-474-8477.
Puedes ver las súplicas de las familias, en español, debajo.
