DENNIS SHARKEY, 50, WAS VICTIM OF POSSIBLE ROAD RAGE
Platte County investigators have confirmed to The Landmark they are speaking with a person of interest in the January shooting death of Dennis Sharkey, a local sports reporter.
Sharkey, 50, was killed just before 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 10 on Interstate 29 near the 72nd Street exit in Platte County.
In response to a question from The Landmark, Platte County Sheriff Erik Holland late Monday afternoon said: “We are speaking with a person of interest as of today.”
Earlier on Monday, sources had told The Landmark that a search warrant being served in Jackson County may be related to the Sharkey case.
In a phone conversation with The Landmark later Monday, Holland told The Landmark investigators are following up on leads, including leads that involve other counties, “including Jackson County.”
Holland did say the person of interest “is not a Platte County resident.”
In the days after the shooting death of Sharkey, the sheriff said the killing had “all the hallmarks” of being a road rage incident.
Sharkey was a local sports reporter for the Platte County Citizen. He had worked as a news reporter for the Platte County Landmark for several months in 2009-2010.
In the days after the shooting, Holland said detectives had been checking with nearby businesses for video surveillance footage that may be helpful.
The sheriff said investigators believe both Sharkey’s vehicle and the suspect’s vehicle came to a stop in the right hand lane of I-29 north of 72nd Street. The sheriff says the suspect got out of his vehicle, and Sharkey then attempted to go around the suspect’s vehicle on the left. That’s when a single shot was fired into Sharkey’s vehicle, the sheriff said.
Holland said after the shot was fired north of the 72nd St. exit, Sharkey’s car traveled a short distance before leaving the right side of the roadway just south of the 72nd St. exit. Sharkey’s vehicle, which was a white Chevy Spark, traveled down an embankment and came to rest near the barrier fence along NW Prairie View Road at about 70th St.
Camera footage from a nearby business reportedly shows two vehicles and three individuals stopping to attempt to help Sharkey in some fashion.
When KCPD officers arrived Sharkey was unresponsive inside the vehicle. Officers rendered aid until EMS arrived and took over. EMS transported Sharkey to the hospital, where he was declared deceased.
KCPD originally was working the case since it was believed the shooting occurred inside the city limits of Kansas City. It was later determined the shooting actually occurred at a section of I-29 that lies within the city limits of Platte Woods, and the Platte County Sheriff’s Department took over as the lead investigative agency.
DENNIS SHARKEY
Sharkey, age 50, of Liberty, had worked in journalism for many years. In addition to working for the Citizen and The Landmark, some of his other stints with newspapers included time with the Oskaloosa Independent in Oskaloosa, Kan., the Mound City (Mo.) News, and the Mexico (Mo.) Ledger.
A Kansas City native, Sharkey had a journalism degree from Northwest Missouri State University.
