President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a suspect has been taken into custody in the murder of 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro.
LeGend’s death outraged residents of Kansas City in June, and launched President Trump’s federal anti-crime initiative Operation LeGend.
Ryson Ellis, 22, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action.
LeGend was fatally shot while sleeping on the floor of an apartment around 2:30 a.m. in Kansas City on June 29. The bullet ripped through a wall and struck the sleeping child, killing him.
His father rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. LeGend was born with a heart defect and survived open heart surgery when he was 4 months old. Kansas City defensive end Frank Clark paid the funeral expenses.
Trump held up a photo of LeGend during his 4 p.m. news conference, as he announced the capture of the suspect. Trump called the boy a “wonderful young man” who was “horribly shot”.
Trump named a federal anti-crime initiative after LeGend that sends hundreds of agents to cities around the city to help quell violent crime. Operation LeGend has been credited with numerous arrests.
LeGend’s mother, Charron Powell, was invited to the White House where Trump discussed the federal anti-crime initiative that was named after her son.
“Operation LeGend is going to happen, Powell told protesters who seek to defund the police in Kansas City, “with or without y’all, it’s going to happen.”
“Operation LeGend is to investigate murders that have been unsolved and one of those is for my 4-year-old son that did not make it to 5,” Powell said, “and if you’re against that, maybe you have to reevaluate your stance and your mentality to see what direction you’re headed in.”
