On January 10, a road rage-related shooting left a former Missouri and Kansas sports reporter dead. Last week, police arrested the suspect they believe was responsible.
Ruslan Huseynov, 34, has been charged with second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the death of Dennis Sharkey Jr., 50, according to Platte County records.
The Kansas City Police Department received a 911 call on Jan. 10 from two people who had been driving behind Huseynov’s and Sharkey’s vehicles on I-29. They described seeing the cars come to a stop in front of them. As they continued past the now-stopped vehicles, they saw the suspect get out of his car with a gun.
“They noticed the man with the gun point it at the victim’s car and then fled the scene. They heard a gunshot as they continued southbound on I-29 and called 911,” read the probable cause statement.
First responders located Sharkey’s vehicle, which had crashed into a fence on I-29. He had suffered a gunshot wound. They transported him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:51 p.m.
With the help of cellphone data from the area of the incident, police were able to deduce that Huseynov’s cellphone “was in a vehicle which came to a stop on the interstate” at the time of Sharkey’s death.
Police executed a search warrant at Huseynov’s residence and found a 9mm gun, 9mm ammunition, and 9mm magazine in a safe in his bedroom. The bullet recovered from Sharkey’s body and shell casings at the scene matched what was found at his home.
“We actually still don’t know what really led up to this shooting,” said Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd. “It certainly has all the hallmarks of a road rage case, but at the end of the day, we don’t know exactly what happened on that highway.”
According to an obituary, Sharkey graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He worked for a variety of news publications in the Missouri and Kansas regions. He even created the Northland Buzz, covering sports for the North Kansas City School District from 2022 to 2024. He most recently worked as the sports reporter and photographer for the Platte County Citizen. A GoFundMe was set up to help support his mother following his death.
Huseynov is currently being held in the Platte County Detention Center without bond.
