Woman killed in Kansas City on Tuesday was not the intended target, police believe
Kansas City police believe a woman killed outside a Knoches Park neighborhood residence Tuesday was not meant to be the target of the shooting.
Officers were called on reports of gunshots fired just before 6:15 p.m. Tuesday around the 3500 block of Cyprus Avenue. As they were responding, multiple other 911 calls were made to report a shooting at that location, said Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a spokesman for the department.
Police were directed to the front of a residence, where they discovered 67-year-old Loretta Neal suffering from gun shot wounds. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital with life threatening injuries.
That’s when Kansas City police detectives and crime scene personnel first began investigating what was then a case of aggravated assault, Becchina said.
When police were notified late Tuesday night that Neal had died, the case became a homicide investigation.
Now, detectives are asking for the public’s help to bring to light information related to the case.
The killing Tuesday marked Kansas City’s 119th homicide of 2022, according to data maintained by The Star. Last year, there were 157 homicides in the city, representing the second-deadliest year on record.
