‘My God he shot her,’ witness says after volley of gunfire in Independence

Independence police say one person was fatally shot and another wounded Tuesday morning at an apartment complex near U.S. 24 and Dover Drive.

The shooting was reported about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Hawthorne Place Apartments and Townhomes.

Police said that one person was taken into custody for questioning. Officers, including tactical officers, were searching for another person in the area of the 600 blocks of Dover and Peck Court.

The search included dogs and a drone from the Kansas City Police Department.

A witness who tried to help one of the shooting victims described a frightening volley of gun shots that she said started with a loud argument between a man and a woman outside apartments at Dover Drive and Peck Court.

“We all heard boom! Boom! Boom! and we said, ‘My God he shot her,’ ” said Cindy Stevens, 33.

Then, as she and others came out to look, another volley echoed behind the apartment building.

Many shots sounded that time.

“Everyone was running then,” Stevens said.

She worried children might be at a nearby playground and ran that direction when she saw a second victim, a man with several gun shot wounds to his chest and torso.

“I tried to help him, tried to do something about his bleeding,” she said.

The shooter may have run off through a nearby parking lot where residents heard more gunfire.

“There were so many different shootings,” Stevens said.

She and others stayed with the victims until paramedics arrived.

“I’ve never seen this out here,” she said. “I’m going to be scared of the night.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2017 at 10:52 AM with the headline "‘My God he shot her,’ witness says after volley of gunfire in Independence."