Police have identified the teenager found dead in the parking lot of a Raytown church just days after his body was discovered.
A passerby called police around 9:30 a.m. Monday after seeing the body in the parking lot of the Dayspring Pentecostal Church.
“We don’t have a lot of information,” said Sgt. Philip DiMartino, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department. “No one called in about a shooting. No one called in about a disturbance. Someone just happened to drive by this morning.”
On Thursday, police reported they had identified the victim as 16-year-old Tytus Bridgeford.
Police struggled for days to identify Bridgeford and released a description of him on Wednesday in hopes someone would recognize him. In the description, police said he was wearing bone-colored Adidas Yeezy 700 MNVNs, had scars above his left eye, left hand and left hip, and wore a brace with black rubber bands.
The killing was the 72nd in Kansas City this year, according to data kept by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. Last year, there were 95 killings at this point.
Anyone with information can contact detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS hotline at 816-474-8477. A reward of up to $25,000 is available for information provided to TIPS that leads to an arrest.
