KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A KC man is behind bars, charged in connection with a slew of armed robberies that happened this weekend across the city’s Midtown neighborhoods.
Fayevion Pettiford, 18, is charged with first-degree robbery, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.
Police believe he is part of a group of young men responsible for at least six armed robberies that occurred between Friday and Saturday nights.
The first happened Friday around 11 p.m. near 36th Street and Belleview Avenue in the Roanoke neighborhood. The victim told Fox 4 robbers forced him and his family on the ground, took their money and then violently kicked his female cousin in the face.
Police believe the robbers struck again five more times on Saturday night. Detectives said those armed robberies were similar to the first, and occurred at 42nd and Oak Streets; 1100 block of W. 46th Street; 42nd Street and Virginia Avenue; 46th and Jefferson Street; and 4500 block of Washington Street.
Harrison Cunningham was a victim near 46th Street.
He told Fox 4 it was around 9:15 on Saturday night when he and his roommate left their nearby apartment and were walking to his brand new car, bought just eight hours earlier.
That’s when he said two young men approached, pulled out a handgun and told them to empty their pockets, car keys included.
“I thought, just give them what they want and walk away,” Cunningham said. “My phone, my wallet, my car, none of it is worth getting shot over. So I just said, ‘You can have whatever you want.’ And as soon as it was done, I walked away and called 911.”
That’s when Cunningham heard a crash. Apparently one of the robbers didn’t realize the emergency brake was on in his car, and instead of driving off, backed into another car before he gave up and ran off.
“So he had to hit the gas pretty hard and that’s why it kind of messed up my fender,” Cunningham said as he inspected the damage.
“They told me that I was the third person in the last hour that had been attacked, almost, and then while they were helping us out on the street, they told us they had to leave right away for to respond to a new claim four blocks East of here,” Cunningham said of the police responding to his call.
Police believe more people were involved in the crime spree and are working to make more arrests in the case.
Cunningham said it’s an experience that is going to be more cautious, but he’s not going to let this change the way he lives his life.
“It’s just so random because it was just six people all over Midtown, thousands of people they could’ve chose, just happened to be us.”
If you know anything about the armed robberies, call Crimestoppers at (816)474-8477.