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Table of Contents

KC Man Pleads Guilty to Shooting Z-Trip Driver 26 Times

20-year-old Derron D. Nevels pleaded guilty in federal court to the armed robbery of a female Z-Trip driver whom he shot approximately 26 times with a rifle from the back seat.

Nevels, who was picked up by the Z-Trip driver on Wabash Avenue in Kansas City on the evening of Dec. 4, 2018, was taken to Benton Avenue in Kansas City. When they arrived at the destination, a struggle ensued after the driver attempted to explain that Nevels was being recorded.

According to court documents, Nevels held a Smith and Wesson Military & Police .22-caliber rifle up to the victim’s head and demanded she give him everything. The victim released Nevels’ rifle and then Nevels leaned back in his seat, chambered a live round, and opened fire on the victim from close range.

Nevels fired approximately 26 times into the victim. About 10 minutes later, Nevels and another suspect returned to the victim’s vehicle to retrieve a cell phone Nevels had left behind.

Nevels can be heard on the Z-Trip vehicle’s video asking the victim if she is okay. The victim indicates she has been shot. Nevels asked the victim if she had called the police. He got into the rear driver’s side of the taxi and picked up the cell phone, then left the scene.

When police officers arrived, the victim was transported to an area hospital in critical condition. According to court documents, she continues to suffer from her serious and debilitating injuries inflicted by Nevels.

Nevels was arrested on Dec. 10, 2018, when he got off a bus at 11th Street and Grand Avenue. He was carrying the loaded rifle hidden in his waistband with the barrel going down his right pant leg. The rifle was later positively identified as the weapon used to shoot the Z-Trip driver during the robbery.

Nevels’ co-defendants, Bailee Anna Maria Prieto and Melani Yitzel Collazo Jimenez, also known as “Mel”, have each pleaded guilty to being accessories after the fact to the robbery. Under federal statutes, Nevels is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole.