IN 2021 SHOOTING AT RIVERSIDE QT
A Platte County man who shot and killed another man at the QuikTrip in Riverside has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for second degree murder, and three years for armed criminal action.
Daniel Kelati, 55, of Kansas City in Platte County, was sentenced in Platte County Circuit Court on Monday, June 29. The sentences will run consecutively, meaning one after another.
Kelati was convicted of shooting and killing a former co-worker after a two day trial in Platte County Circuit Court on June 9.
Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “This defendant murdered his former co-worker and friend Tariku Fite at the Quik Trip in Riverside as Mr. Fite was beginning to pump gas into his vehicle. Kelati shot him in the head at close range. The murder was captured on security video.”
Prosecutors proved at trial that shortly after 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2021, police responded to the QT in Riverside after 911 calls described a man being shot at a gas pump. The first responding Riverside officer found a man later identified as Fite lying near a gas pump with a gunshot wound to the head.
Kelati, who was parked directly behind Fite’s vehicle at the gas pump approached the Riverside officer and stated “Officer, I am the one. I kill him. He follow me. I am the one. I kill him.”
Kelati was immediately taken into custody at the QT.
Kelati’s vehicle was searched after a search warrant was obtained and a Ruger 9mm handgun was found in the driver’s seat. A single 9mm shell casing was found near where Fite was shot.
Prosecutors were able to prove that it was Kelati following Fite from the QT surveillance video, not Fite following Kelati.
Police recovered video footage from an animal hospital directly north of QT that also showed Kelati following Fite in his vehicle.
Kelati had pled not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to his crimes.
The case was investigated by the Riverside Police Department. The case was tried by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Collin VanOstran and First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mark L. Gibson.
