Teens flee Kansas City skate rink on New Year’s Eve after report of gunshot
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Police were unable to confirm whether shots were actually fired at a Northland skating rink on New Year’s Eve night, but reports of gunfire nonetheless caused masses of teenagers to spill out of the rink.
Clay County Sheriff’s deputies were forced to break up a fight that erupted in a nearby Target parking lot. A handgun was taken from one teen. No injuries were reported.
The course of events unfolded shortly after 10 p.m. when sheriff’s deputies stopped a woman for speeding. She explained that she was speeding to get her child from the Winnwood Skate Center, 4426 N.E. Winn Road, where she had been told shots were fired. The deputies, however, had gotten no such report. But while following the woman to the skating rink, not far from Chouteau Park, a report did come in.
When deputies arrived, they found masses of teenagers spilling out of the skate rink and into the parking lot of the adjacent Target store. Kansas City police arrived for crowd control. Deputies found no one injured.
Then a fight broke out in the Target parking lot. The Clay County Sheriff’s department reported that deputies saw a teenager reach for his waistband during the fight. They used a Taser on him, took the 14-year-old into custody, and found a loaded handgun in his waistband.
They would later discover that the teen had been accused of using the weapon earlier in the evening to rob another teenager of his shoes. Medics checked the accused teen for injuries after he was Tased. The sheriff’s department reported that Clay County juvenile authorities declined to take the teenager into custody. He was released to a parent.
Kansas City police and Missouri Highway Patrol officers cleared the area.
This story was originally published January 1, 2023 at 8:34 AM.
