The search for drive-by shooting suspect Kenneth Mitchell began four years ago and wrapped this week with an announcement made by U.S. Marshal Mark S.James that Mitchell was arrested in Kansas City on suspicion of attempted homicide.
On Aug. 28, 2015, Mitchell is suspected of driving by a condo complex located on the 28000 block of Sarabande Lane in Canyon Country and firing a handgun at a man standing near a residence, striking him in the leg.
The victim, identified as Alondo Preston, 26, was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital following the 8 a.m. shooting that day and underwent surgery that afternoon, Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, said in 2015.
Preston survived and Mitchell would later be charged in December 2015 with attempted murder.
From that point on, Mitchell was on the run and his whereabouts, according to the U.S. Marshals, were unknown.
In July 2019, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators made renewed attempts at locating Mitchell and asked for the public’s help in finding him.
Investigators requested the assistance of the U.S. Marshals and information was developed that Mitchell may have fled to Kansas City.
The Marshals Service task force in Kansas City began a local investigation during the first week of September and believed Mitchell had recently stayed at a local motel there.
Investigators discovered a vehicle from security camera footage and would soon find that vehicle in the area of east 10th and White Avenue in Kansas City, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Marshals Wednesday.
Task force members spotted Mitchell standing next to the vehicle and took him into custody without incident.
He was placed in custody at the Jackson County Detention Center, where he awaited extradition back to California to face the charges.
On the day of the shooting in 2015, the shooter — who was identified then as Mitchell — was reported to have fled the scene in a silver four-door sedan, Miller said.
Deputies went to an address listed under the suspect’s name on the day of the shooting to serve a warrant for his arrest, but he was not there, Lt. Charles Norris said at the time. Norris didn’t say where in the valley he lived.
The incident does not appear to have been a random shooting, Miller said at the time.
“The suspect and the victim knew each other, and the shooting occurred as a result of a personal conflict,” she said in 2015.
Before deputies arrived at the shooting that day, a field sergeant was in the area when he was flagged down by a group of people. As he approached, he saw the victim on the ground while a woman “attempted to render aid to him,” Miller said.
The objectives of the U.S. Marshal’s task force are to seek out and arrest fugitives charged with violent crimes, drug offenses, sex offenders and other serious felonies.
Nationally the U.S. Marshals Service fugitive programs are carried out with local law enforcement in 94 district offices, 67 local fugitive task forces, eight regional task forces, as well as a growing network of offices in foreign countries.
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