Jul 02, 2020

Man sentenced for fatal shooting at Kansas school playground

Posted Jul 02, 2020 9:00 AM
Grable photo Johnson County
Grable photo Johnson County

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — A Missouri man was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for a 2018 shooting outside a Kansas elementary school that killed one man and left another paralyzed.

Anthony Grable, 34, of Kansas City, Missouri, will not be eligible for parole for 50 years.

He pleaded guilty last year to first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery and burglary.

In July 2018, Grable was installing playground equipment at Sunrise Point Elementary in Overland Park when a fight over tools escalated into a crime spree. Grable fatally shot Todd Eugene Davis and critically injured Efren Joaquin Gomez.

There were no children at the school at the time.

Grable then unsuccessfully tried to carjack someone at a car wash, then stole an SUV from a man a few blocks away. Police said he drove to the carjacking victim’s house, where he was taken into custody after a standoff.

In an unsuccessful defense motion that sought a lesser sentence, his attorney said Grable was experiencing a mental health crisis on the day of the shooting.