‘Right outside our building’: Witness recounts shooting on a day of gunfire in Independence

Jacob Trillin, manager of Certified Transmission, watched as a white SUV rolled by in front of his shop on West 23rd Street in Independence Monday afternoon.

The man inside the vehicle fired a gun a number of times at another car.

“It’s Independence, so you hear about stuff,” Trillin said, referring to gun violence generally. “But this was the first time this happened right outside our building.”

At least two other shootings occurred that day. One was close to Mid-Continent Public Library off of 24 Highway and the other was at Maywood Carwash on Truman Road.

All three shootings occurred almost simultaneously Monday afternoon, according to a statement posted online by the Independence Police Department.

The department did not respond to request for further comment.

Though there were no reported injuries in those shootings, gun violence has been increasing in Independence and across the state over the last few years. There were 11 gun homicides in Independence last year – more than all but five other cities in the state.

Missouri had the third highest gun homicide rate in the country in 2020, according to The Star’s analysis of data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.

It was the deadliest year in Missouri’s history with a record number of homicides, and the state is on pace to reach nearly the same level of violence again this year.

This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 6:21 PM.