KaShawn Nicola Roper, 50, was arrested Wednesday morning in High Springs, Fla. She was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list a day earlier. Photo courtesy of FBI/Release
Authorities in northern Florida arrested KaShawn Nicola Roper on Wednesday, a day after the fugitive was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list over an alleged 2020 fatal shooting in Missouri.
Federal and local police have been hunting the 50-year-old woman since Aug. 23, 2020, when authorities allege she opened fire on an occupied car in Kansas City, Mo., killing 23-year-old mother Jazmyn Henrion and injuring a second person.
Roper was charged by the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office that September with a slew of offenses, including second-degree murder. A federal arrest warrant was issued for Roper on July 1, 2021, after authorities said they believed she had fled the state immediately following the shooting.
On Tuesday, the FBI added her to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, offering up to a $1 million reward leading to her arrest and conviction.
Police officers in High Springs, Fla., located about 75 miles southwest of Jacksonville, arrested Roper on Wednesday morning during a traffic stop.
According to a statement from the High Springs Police Department, officers conducted the stop at 10:21 a.m. EDT after receiving tips following Tuesday’s FBI announcement. The FBI said the tip indicated that Roper was in the city.
Little information about the arrest was made public, though the FBI said it was made by the High Springs Police Department with assistance from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, the Alachua County Warrants Unit Task Force and the U.S. Marshals Service.
“From the moment we received information that Roper may be in our area, we surged into action, working in lockstep with our law enforcement partners to quickly track, locate and apprehend her,” FBI Jacksonville Special Agent in Charge Jason Carley said in a statement.
“Given the serious and dangerous nature of her alleged crimes, her presence in the community posed an ongoing threat that we could not ignore.”
In naming Roper the 541st addition to the FBI’s infamous list, federal authorities told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday that “the FBI never forgets.”
“We will leave no stone unturned in our pursuit of justice for victims of violent crime,” Jeff Burke, acting special agent in charge for the FBI’s Kansas City field office, said.
During the press conference, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson called on members of the public who may have information on Roper’s whereabouts to come forward and contact the authorities.
“If you believe you have seen or interacted with Miss Roper in your city, your neighborhood, your friend circle, you may be holding valuable information that a grieving family so desperately needs,” she said. “Please, do not stay silent.”
Following the arrest on Wednesday, Johnson issued a statement commending Roper’s arrest as a result of the relationship between various levels of law enforcement “and the power of a public that refuses to accept violence as a reality.”
“Speaking up can keep you and your family and community safe, but also gives a grieving family hope that one day justice will be served.”
With Roper’s arrest, 502 fugitives who have been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list have been apprehended.
