Mother, Son Sentenced for Illegal Firearms Following Two Shootings at Swope Park on Father’s Day 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., woman and her son have been sentenced in federal court for illegally possessing the firearms they used in two shootings at Swope Park on Father’s Day last year.

Kippie R. House, 54, and her son, co-defendant Darryel L. Pennington, 32, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays last week. House was sentenced on Thursday, June 20, to 10 years and one month in federal prison without parole. Pennington was sentenced on Monday, June 17, to 10 years in federal prison without parole.

House and Pennington each have pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. House admitted in her plea agreement that she and Pennington had been involved in shootings at Swope Park on June 18, 2023. Pennington pleaded guilty without a plea agreement.

The two separate shooting incidents involved in this case were captured on surveillance video. The video shows House arriving at the crowded park on a sunny day, in an area filled with families near a picnic pavilion and children playing on inflatable bounce-houses. There were several people sitting in lawn chairs or standing near vehicles with a steady flow of traffic through the area where the shootings occurred. House parked her Dodge Challenger and walked across the street, carrying a Smith & Wesson .380-caliber handgun with a laser, and was confronted by a member of her ex-boyfriend’s family.

House became involved in a physical altercation with the other woman and began shooting. The other woman, who was unarmed, ran to retrieve a gun from her vehicle. House waved her gun around in the street as she sought out the woman, shot at her again, and the two engaged in a shoot-out over and around the woman’s vehicle.

House then left the park and went to pick up her son, Pennington. They returned to the park an hour later and Pennington, extending his arm outside the passenger window, began firing a handgun with an extended magazine at House’s ex-boyfriend and his family. At least two people returned fire and Pennington was struck in the leg. House then left the park and took Pennington to Research Hospital.

When a Kansas City police officer approached them at the hospital, House was sitting in her Dodge Challenger, which had a flat back tire and multiple bullet holes, and Pennington was sitting in the front passenger’s seat. Pennington, who had been shot in the right leg, was provided medical treatment. Officers found a loaded Smith & Wesson .380 caliber handgun with a laser in the trunk of the Challenger, as well as a backpack that contained a Glock 10mm semi-automatic handgun and an extended magazine loaded with 23 rounds of ammunition. The Smith & Wesson handgun had been reported stolen.

House admitted the firearms belonged to her and her son and that they had been used in the shootings at Swope Park.  House told detectives she returned to the park after the first shooting with a plan to shoot a member of her ex-boyfriend’s family. 

Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. House has a prior felony conviction for receiving stolen property. Pennington has a prior felony conviction for unlawful use of a weapon.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashleigh A. Ragner. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

Project Safe Neighborhoods

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.