Kansas man charged 7 years after he allegedly fatally shot teen refugee at laundromat

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (TCN) -- A 24-year-old man is being charged with murder seven years after he allegedly shot and killed a 15-year-old high school student at the laundromat where he worked.

The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department announced the breakthrough in December Htoo’s case on Thursday, July 18. KSHB-TV reports the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office is charging Luis Samano with felony murder and attempted aggravated robbery. Samano is currently serving a sentence for another unrelated crime.

According to KCTV-TV, police believe Htoo was shot and killed during an attempted robbery on Nov. 18, 2017, while he was closing up at the Maple Hill Laundromat. The case, however, went cold because there were no witnesses or surveillance videos from the scene.

In 2021, Lenexa Police Department officers recovered a gun that matched the shell casings from the scene of Htoo’s killing. Investigators tracked down the owner of the gun, who reportedly told police he thought Samano could have fired the fatal shot. Earlier this year, a detective with the Cold Case Unit was able to identify a suspect vehicle, which she connected to Samano.

Samano was 17 years old when the shooting occurred.

Htoo was a sophomore at JC Harmon High School and immigrated to the United States as a refugee from Myanmar. He was reportedly on the high school’s wrestling team and a beloved member of his church community.

Htoo’s family said in a statement shared by the Kansas City Police Department, "December is loved and is deeply missed by his family, friends and community. He always smiled, had a positive energy, and always participated in his community including his church youth camp and Bible study. We want to thank the community and the police department for looking at the case again."

The statement continued, "We understand it is pretty hard to get cold cases solved. In our culture, we had never experienced something like this because our Karen community was fairly new to the U.S. We think it is wonderful and are grateful for the work that detectives did."