Grand jury upgrades Kansas City nonprofit CEO to first-degree murder

Jackson County prosecutors escalated the case against Kansas City nonprofit CEO Na’im Al-Amin with a June grand jury indictment that upgraded the killing of Todd Tillman from second-degree murder to first-degree murder, a move that sharply raises the stakes in a case already marked by witness allegations, evidence disposal claims and a delayed trial.

Tillman was 36 when Kansas City police responded around 2 a.m. on July 14, 2023 to reported shots near East 83rd Street and Troost Avenue. His body was found later that morning in the 1300 block of East 81st Terrace, in the backyard of a south Kansas City home, with apparent gunshot wounds. The original case filed in 2023 included second-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon.

The new indictment adds first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action, first-degree kidnapping, unlawful possession of a firearm and tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. It alleges Al-Amin committed murder “after deliberation” by shooting Tillman on or about July 14, 2023. Under Missouri law, first-degree murder is a class A felony that can carry death or life without parole for an adult defendant.

The escalation appears tied not just to the shooting itself, but to the broader alleged sequence around it. According to court filings and reporting, a witness said Al-Amin forced her at gunpoint to drive him to Tillman’s home, then ordered her to take him to the Missouri River, where phones and a gun were thrown away. Prosecutors also reportedly told defense counsel in mediation that if no plea deal was reached, they would return to the grand jury seeking a first-degree murder indictment.

The case has also drawn attention because of Al-Amin’s public profile. FOX4 identified him as the founder of Swagg Inc., a nonprofit that says it helps formerly incarcerated people re-enter society, a background that now sits in stark contrast to the allegations in the homicide file. The trial that had been set for June 29, 2026 was reportedly pushed back to January after the indictment, leaving the upgraded murder charge and the grand jury’s true bill at the center of the next phase in the case.