Family seeks justice for Raytown father, youth football coach shot
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The family of the man shot outside his Raytown home last weekend is speaking out after police say the suspect was trying to steal his car.
Mario Jordan was shot in the head, now, he's recovering at Research Medical Center. He didn't want to talk on camera, but said he has a message; he wants people to value life.
'It was the scariest moment of my life, and I'm just glad that he's here with us today,' his fiancé Shanta Clifton said.
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Clifton said on her birthday, early Saturday morning at about 3:30 a.m., they woke up to their car alarm. She saw someone trying to steal their vehicle through their doorbell camera, and Mario ran outside, unarmed.
'As soon as he got out there, he was like, 'Hey, what're y'all doing?' I was like, ''Hey, get away from the car!' And they just started shooting and shooting and shooting and he fell,' Clifton said.
'And they wouldn't stop shooting.'
Before someone fired bullets at Jordan, he saw three strangers and said two more in a getaway car. Raytown Police said they're still searching for a suspect.
Emergency responders rushed Jordan to the hospital.
Now, Jordan can only see figures. Mario's praying, he'll regain sight. However, he said doctors told him he may not be able to see again.
'He's probably not going to be able to see anymore,' Clifton said.
'They took something away from a great person, who did a lot for this city.'
They have three children, and Mario works for General Motors.
He's also passionate about investing in our youth, from helping kids produce their own music to coaching in a youth football league.
'Thank you for teaching me how to play football,' 13-year-old Logan Gervy said. He played for Jordan on the Mighty Ducks
'He was a great coach, he always knew how to talk to the players and know how to settle them down,' Gervy said.
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Clifton said Jordan has plans to start an adult flag football league.
'He still can do it, it's just going to be trying,' Clifton said.
Nearly a dozen people visited the hospital on Thursday to show support.
Mario's sister, Brianna Owens, says their family is leaning on faith. She hopes the people responsible for shooting her brother are caught.
'If you hear anything regarding this situation, please, please come forward, we really want to put this to rest, we really want to be able to sleep at tonight knowing these people aren't out on the street doing this.'
If you have any helpful information, call the tips hotline. You can remain anonymous by calling: (816)-474-TIPS.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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But she took a wrong turn in the dark at a roundabout and wound up on the south end of West Rock Quarry Road, which runs along the back side of Seckinger High School in Gwinnett. The Carpers had no way of knowing it, but for months Coach Lotti had been lobbying county DOT to make safety improvements to the road. Some students had been T-boned turning left out of a school exit, along with multiple other accidents involving drivers running off the dead end. "We'll be sitting on the front porch or doing something out here, and I'll see cars just flying down here," West Rock Quarry Road resident George Grob told the I-Team in March. "And then we'll hear them go off. I bet I've come down here for probably 10 or 15 people. "One night, it was two of them," Grob said. "Like, within an hour of each other." Coach Lotti asked the county for speed breakers, as well as a barricade at the cul-de-sac. 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"When we heard about the couple that was stranded, my heart just sunk," Lotti said. "We had no idea they were there." Walt, 71, suffered a brain injury in the crash. He's still recovering in a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Monroe, his stepdaughter said. Why you should care Late last year, Gwinnett DOT had been working with Lotti to address safety hazards on the road. The county conducted a traffic study, recording speeds as high as 90 and 100 miles per hour, where the speed limit is 25. DOT added two new signs – one saying, "School," another saying, "Dead end 1000 feet." Lotti said he and traffic officials discussed adding speed breakers. But then everything came to a stop. Mulberry, a new city, formed on Jan. 1. "Congratulations! You are now in the new city of Mulberry," a traffic analyst told Lotti in an email obtained by the I-Team. "Unfortunately, we do not have an agreement with the City of Mulberry to install speed humps inside the city limits. 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Coker said West Rock Quarry Road will be the city's responsibility eventually, but for now, it's the county's job to maintain it. "You guys came out and did that story, you brought attention to this issue," he said of FOX 5's story in March. "And ultimately the county made the changes, they put up those barricades. So I think that tells you everything you need to know, as to whose responsibility was that road." Heidi said her mother would still be alive if the barricade had gone up sooner. Local perspective Patricia Carper served 22 years with Clarke County, retiring in 2010. She worked as a jailer, and a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office said she's remembered as an excellent marksman. She's also remembered for taking over operations of the Athens jail in May 2000, the spokeswoman said. That was so other deputies could attend the funeral of a lieutenant who had died on duty in a car crash. Carper was laid to rest Wednesday at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Winder. She's survived by her husband, two children and three grandsons. The Source The FOX 5 I-Team reported in March how Gwinnett County's Transportation Department backed off safety improvements to a treacherous road, just before a Barrow County couple's horrific ordeal running off the roadway in February. For that story, the I-Team reviewed traffic reports, a traffic study, accident reports and photos of past wrecks provided by school personnel and residents. This story was prompted when the daughter of the driver in the February crash informed reporter Johnny Edwards that her mother died.
