Inset: Armando Navarro, Jr. (Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Kansas City, Missouri, home where Navarro allegedly killed his girlfriend, her mother and her daughter (KMBC/YouTube).
A 50-year-old Missouri man allegedly killed three members of a family over the weekend when he shot his girlfriend along with her daughter, mother and family dog.
Armando Navarro, Jr., 50, is facing three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of armed criminal action and one count each of assault and animal abuse. He stands accused of killing his girlfriend, 49-year-old Jodie Hopcus, her 24-year-old daughter Hailey Hopcus, and her mother 73-year-old Sherri Duncan. He is also accused of injuring his girlfriend’s other daughter.
According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, the surviving victim ran to a neighbor’s house and said there had been a shooting in her home in the 4100 block of NW 65th Street in Kansas City shortly after 12:30 a.m. Sunday.
More on Law&Crime: Man killed his in-laws and their dog before setting the couple’s home on fire, police say
When cops entered the home in question, they were met with a “horrific crime,” Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd told reporters Monday at a press conference. Jodie Hopcus, Hailey Hopcus and Sherri Duncan, plus the dog, were all pronounced dead on scene. The surviving victim was not physically injured, but Navarro allegedly shot out a chunk of her hair when he fired at her as she was running away.
She was able to detail in an interview with detectives the harrowing version of events surrounding the shooting. According to her, Navarro and her mother were arguing which is “something that happens quite often.” Jodie Hopcus was reportedly pleading with Navarro to leave, something he refused to do because he claimed he had nowhere else to go. This went on for about an hour, the affidavit said.
Once things seemingly calmed down, Navarro began going in and out of his room, apparently gathering his things. But then he allegedly came out with a handgun. He started shooting, cops allege. Jodie Hopcus was shot in the upper arm. He kept firing until he ran out of bullets, according to the affidavit. Next, Navarro grabbed a knife, but Jodie Hopcus shielded her surviving daughter from him, cops wrote. He then left and returned with a “larger firearm,” cops said. He put the gun under his chin as if her were going to shoot himself. Jodie Hopcus tried to make a run for it, sprinting toward the door, but Navarro allegedly shot her in the face.
The surviving victim said she believed her grandmother had already been struck by the gunfire as she saw her “laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling, motionless,” cops wrote. Her sister told her to run out of the house. As she ran away, he once again allegedly started shooting, with bullets whizzing past her head, causing a clump of hair to fly off. Hailey Hopcus also was shot. The survivor ran outside and hid behind a house and could hear Navarro calling out her name, according to the affidavit.
Navarro then took a 2020 Ford Expedition with a California license plate, which belonged to one of the victims. Hours later and some 150 miles to the west, the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office received a report about a Expedition in a ditch. Deputies checked with the driver, Navarro, to see if he was injured.
Kansas City police later alerted them that Navarro was a suspect in a triple homicide. Cops recovered a gun in the car with five spent shell casings, the affidavit said. Officials took him into custody.
Meanwhile, Navarro’s son contacted the Kansas City police station and said his father had called him around 2 a.m. and told them he had “killed them all.”
“He went on to state Navarro told him they weren’t getting along and he didn’t know where he was going to go,” cops wrote.
Navarro is in the Dickinson County Jail without bond awaiting extradition back to Missouri, Zahnd said at the press conference.
