Shooting at 7th Heaven in Kansas City leaves two dead

Kansas City police responding to a report of an active shooter inside a Troost Avenue business on Sunday discovered a man and a woman dead in an apparent murder-suicide.

Police dispatchers could hear shots being fired over the phone just before 1 p.m. as officers headed to the 7th Heaven store at 7621 Troost Ave.

A customer said a man entered and was told he didn’t belong there and had to leave.

“He wasn’t listening to any of that,” said Jeremiah Popplewell, who was in the store shopping with a friend. “He came in crazy and turned the corner. The next thing you know shots were fired.… Everybody ran out of there like mad people. He came in for a reason, obviously.”

Popplewell said he heard a scream before an estimated 12-15 shots were fired.

More than 20 officers arrived on the scene within minutes of the call. Even more arrived to shut down Troost Avenue for blocks. No police officers fired their weapons, said Police Chief Darryl Forté.

Police spokeswoman Kari D. Thompson said it appeared to be a case of murder-suicide but that the investigation was continuing. She could not confirm if the woman killed was an employee.

“This is an awful scene,” Thompson said. “This occurred inside a business with several people inside. We do know that several of those people left prior to officers arriving. We need you to call us. We need you to help us to determine exactly what happened today. 816-474-TIPS.”

Many people were cooperating Sunday afternoon. A city bus was provided for them to stay cool until they could be interviewed.

Forté tweeted about the incident Sunday afternoon.

Nobody else inside the business during the shooting was hurt. Neither the victim nor the shooter was immediately identified.

This story was originally published August 28, 2016 at 2:35 PM with the headline "Shooting at 7th Heaven in Kansas City leaves two dead."