Derrick C. Davis, Armed Robbery, Missouri 2019

Derrick C. Davis, 22, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., walked into federal court and admitted he terrorized a T-Mobile store in Kansas City, Mo., at gunpoint. On March 8, 2019, Davis and an accomplice stormed the store at 819 N.W. Barry Road just before 9 p.m., wearing masks, gloves, and hoodies, each armed with a handgun. Davis pointed a black firearm directly at an employee’s head, then helped loot a plastic bin full of iPhones and iPads from a back room — one of which contained a GPS tracker.

The theft unraveled fast. As Davis fled in a 2015 BMW X1 hatchback, the tracking device activated, broadcasting real-time coordinates. Police picked up the signal and pursued the vehicle using emergency lights and sirens. The suspects refused to stop. During the chase, they tossed a camouflage bag near 90th Street and Raytown Road. Officers deployed stop sticks on Bannister Road, but lost sight of the burning BMW moments later.

The camouflage bag was recovered — packed with stolen electronics, the GPS tracker, and a black Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun. The BMW was later found partially burned in Grandview, Mo., the fire intentionally set. Inside, officers discovered the vehicle was registered to Davis’s mother — and worse, Vondell D. Walton’s driver’s license. Walton, 21, of Grandview, had already pleaded guilty on Dec. 6, 2021, to a separate armed robbery of a T-Mobile store in Raymore, Mo.

Just after midnight, Kansas City police spotted Davis and another man walking along the shoulder near where the bag was dumped, flashlights sweeping the ground. They claimed they weren’t searching for anything. Officers let them go — but by then, the evidence trail was sealed. The Glock, the GPS data, the burned car, and the ID all pointed straight to Davis.

Davis now faces the full weight of federal justice. Under today’s plea agreement, he admitted guilt to one count of robbery and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. The government and defense jointly recommend 14 years in federal prison without parole. The final sentence will be decided by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays following a presentence investigation by the U.S. Probation Office.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Barnes and investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Independence, Mo., Police Department, and the FBI. No plea deal can erase what happened inside that store — the fear, the threats, the weapon pressed toward a worker’s skull. But in court, Davis finally answered for it.

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