KC nightclub owner called police 20 minutes before mass shooting. Why didn’t they come?
In the early morning hours of May 21, owner of Kansas City’s East Side Klymax Lounge Mario Williams called police to report a suspicious vehicle circling his nightclub.
He allegedly was told the phone line would be recorded as he waited for the dispatcher to pick up. In an eight second call, Williams said he reported that strange activity — then the call beeped multiple times before disconnecting.
Police records showed Williams waited about four seconds on the line before “abandoning” the call. Since Williams allegedly hung up the phone, per the department’s records, the call was neither reported to a dispatcher nor noted in the Kansas City police log system, according to Capt. Corey Carlisle, a spokesman for the department.
After the call, Williams said he went outside to check on his security guard, Jason McConnell.
Some men had congregated near the front entrance of the venue. He alleged they were waiting for someone attending a birthday party inside the lounge.
“Jason told me to get back inside and call again,” Williams said.
Records collected by the Star show Williams reported the men, who he believed to be armed, twice before officers said they responded. The first time was in the 1:04 a.m phone call in which Williams allegedly hung up. The second phone call, also at 1:04 a.m., was answered by a dispatcher in three seconds and led to an almost two minute conversation.
“I told the police the guys were here with guns and that our security guard was not going to be able to hold them back… I said we needed help,” Williams said.
Patrons were directed to steer clear of the front entrance and to leave the event from side doors as McConnell worked to keep the people waiting outside at bay, Williams said. But twenty minutes later, shots rang out and McConnell was injured. Officers later declared him one of three people who were killed at the scene that night. Two more people were critically injured.
Kansas City police did not disclose the contents of the second 911 call, as they are not required to under Missouri’s Sunshine Law, but records showed the call was identified as “suspicious” and given a priority number of 4.
The priority number, designated by a KCPD dispatcher, indicated the urgency at which a unit needed to respond, Carlisle said.
“This priority is for calls in which a reasonable police response will not detract from the quality of police service,” said Sgt. Jacob Becchina, another spokesman for the department.
He explained that priority 4 calls do not present any immediate danger to human life, in an emailed statement.
Williams repeatedly alleged the dispatcher told him officers were stretched thin across the city and no one would be able to respond to his call until there was an active emergency. He said the dispatcher referred to it as a “black out”, which Becchina said occurs when there are no available police cars to respond to an incident in the affected zone and it is followed by the request that a car make themselves available as soon as possible.
“Black out” time is not tracked on a “moment to moment basis,” according to Becchina.
“I’d never heard of that before,” Williams said of the term.
“I know they’re trying their best but if we had one officer patrolling the area at that time, or one officer showed their presence at the club, I really think this wouldn’t have happened.”
‘Ready to riot’
Kansas City police call logs, which Capt. Corey Carlisle said do not include “abandoned” calls, indicated 31 requests for service had been made at the Klymax Lounge from May 1, 2021 and leading up to this year’s May 21 shooting.
The descriptions of calls range from “armed events” to “building checks” and calls to “keep the peace,” records showed.
Williams contends that more Kansas City police patrols in the area, which frequently experiences gun violence, and a partnership with the department to provide off-duty officers to run security outside the nightclub would help deter crime.
According to Kansas City police spokesman Sgt. Jacob Becchina, “numerous officers” were patrolling the area on the night of the lounge shooting. While he did not have the specific locations of officers at the time of the gunfire, he said, they were “fairly close.”
Kansas City police told the Star they responded to a shooting call at 1:25 a.m. and arrived at the lounge one minute later. But Williams alleged they arrived around 1:55 a.m. In an emailed statement, Becchina called the allegation “not accurate.”
Williams also said people fleeing the club were “ready to riot” over the delayed response.
“If the people looking to cause trouble see police... they’re running,” Williams said.
“These guys were able to have at least twenty minutes outside my establishment with guns hanging out of their pocket,” he said.
Records provided by Williams and police showed the club owner called officers at least five times that night.
After the calls at 1:04 a.m., Williams made two more calls — at 1:26 a.m. and 1:27 a.m. respectively — which were “abandoned.” The first call disconnected after 29 seconds and the second after 53 seconds of waiting to speak to a dispatcher.
Williams alleged each of the calls were disconnected.
“There were bodies all around me,” he said of the time.
About 11 other calls from the lounge were waiting to speak to a dispatcher during the same time frame, according to Capt. Corey Carlisle, a spokesman for the Kansas City police. These calls, he said, prompted the initial dispatched shooting call.
Williams’ final call at 1:29 a.m. was picked up by a dispatcher after over four minutes of waiting in a queue.
At that time, police were already on the scene, Carlisle said.
Williams said when he spoke to a dispatcher, which police records showed lasted 15 seconds, he told them people had already been shot. The dispatcher allegedly responded that police were on the way.
“People are walking around saying this shooting happened inside our club and that nothing could have been done to stop it. But we called police to say they were going to be shooting. They just didn’t show up in time,” Williams said. “I did the best I could.”
Klymax shooting
Kansas City police officers responded around 1:25 a.m. and found five victims, said Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department, following the shooting.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene and another three were transported to the hospital by emergency medical crews. Officials said one of the deceased victims was found outside the lounge and the other was located inside.
A short time later, one of the people transported to the hospital was pronounced dead.
A woman who lives near the nightclub, who asked not to be named to protect her safety, said she woke up that night to a series of about 10 gunshots. There was a pause, she said, and then she heard another five shots.
On Friday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker filed charges against 36-year-old Isiah Clinton, who is believed to be one of the shooters involved.
He has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, five counts of armed criminal action and two counts of first-degree assault, according to charging documents.
Prosecutors believe Clinton laid in wait for CJ Henderson, one of the three people killed at the venue, and allegedly gunned him down as he exited the club, Baker said.
Although the victims names were not listed in the charging documents, Baker identified the victims as Clarence “CJ” Henderson, who also went by the nickname “Nutty”, Antoinette “Libby” Brenson, and Jason McConnell, the security guard working the door at the club.
‘We just don’t know’
Since the shooting, Williams has requested to hire off-duty police to work at the lounge on certain nights. At least three must be hired to secure the venue, according to Sgt. Jacob Becchina.
Williams’ concerns over security come from a fear that there are not enough officers readily available or patrolling the area to prevent future shootings, he said.
“People feel like [the shooting] could have been prevented... We just don’t know,” said Third District Councilwoman Melissa Robinson.
She had not heard of any data that would suggest the call’s location that night, or any 911 call’s location, may have an impact on police response time.
Robinson believes this is an issue, in part, due to the size of Kansas City.
“Because Kansas City is so large in terms of landmass, I don’t think we’ve ever gotten up to a level of officers able to meet the demand,” Robinson said.
Based off conversations at Board of Police Commissioners’ meetings, the staffing shortage is getting worse, she said.
Robinson contended the issue must be addressed by ensuring the department is adequately resourced and funds dedicated to employing officers are appropriately used. She added that conversations around the council “taking money away from police” negatively impacted these efforts.
The strained relationship between police officers and the communities they protect, specifically those experiencing high levels of gun violence, such as Kansas City’s East Side, is also a large part of the issue, she said.
“Residents have to be able to depend on officers,” she said, “... including for a reasonable amount of response time when they call 911.”
