‘Who’s hurt?’ Stray bullets pierce windows of Westport bistro, terrifying owner
Just a day earlier, Claire Fitzsimmons found herself among the patrons and staff at Bistro 303 diving for cover as stray gunfire struck the front glass windows of the Westport restaurant and bar, but she was back Sunday — she felt she needed to return.
“I had to do it to say that no one is going to make me feel afraid not to come in to my favorite place,” Fitzsimmons said. “I’m not going to hide out. I’m not going hide out.”
Two people sustained non-life threatening injuries in the shooting that happened about 12:15 p.m. Saturday near 40th Street and Westport Road, according to police. Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a Kansas City police spokesman, said “all indications are the victims were the intended targets.”
Fitzsimmons was among several people standing at a table by the bar inside Bistro 303 when they heard a very loud noise, causing them to question, “What the heck? Really?”
That’s when Fitzsimmons looked out the window and saw two young men running down Westport Road headed west. They turned to go north on Central Avenue before doing an about-face and continuing west down Westport.
Then she heard five distinct sounds: “It was kind of like whap, whap, whap, whap, whap,” Fitzsimmons said as she clapped her hands to accentuate the sound.
“And then we all said, ‘Get on the floor. Get on the floor. Get out of the line of fire,’” she said.
Time right after the shooting seemed to take forever, said Fitzsimmons, who had never heard gunshots that close before.
“It was scary,” she said. “I didn’t even notice any of the bullet holes in the glass until way after we had gotten up and were able to walk around the bar again.”
Fitzsimmons was grateful that no one inside the Bistro 303 was injured and that there weren’t a lot of people walking down the block like they often do on a Saturday afternoon in Westport.
“This shouldn’t have happened,” Fitzsimmons said. “There’s too much gun violence going on in this country, especially right now.”
Jeffrey Schmitz, who co-owns the gay bar with Gene Switzer, said he was at home waiting for a repairman when employees started calling.
“It sounded horrible,” Schmitz said.
His first question: “Who’s hurt?” No one inside the restaurant had been injured.
Receiving such a call is gut wrenching, he said, because he knows the majority of his customers.
“This is a second home for a lot of people,” said Schmitz, who added they have been at that location for 17 1/2 years.
Several bullets pierced the glass windows of the restaurant. Most of the shots were high. But one bullet hole still terrifies him, Schmitz said. That hole was in the lower third of a window and the bullet that made it traveled through the restaurant and broke lamp at a bar.
Bistro 303 closed for the remainder of the day Saturday so police could collect evidence and extensive cleaning could be done, including vacuuming everything, restocking ice and rewashing everything.
“There were shards in a lot of places,” Schmitz said. When crews were cleaning up Sunday, they found more bullet fragments.
Schmitz said he feels fortunate that no one else had been injured or even killed in the shooting.
“Holes in walls, those are fixable,” Schmitz said. “Someone’s life isn’t.”
Gun violence is the subject of a statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
