Two dead, three injured after shooting in downtown Kansas City parking lot
Update: Police identified the two men who were killed as Kane Taddese, 24, and John Alfaro, 18.
Two people were killed and three others were injured in shooting in downtown Kansas City early Sunday morning.
Police were called just after 4 a.m. to a surface parking lot at 13th Street and Grand Blvd., where they found a man suffering from gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to Sgt. Philip DiMartino, spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department.
Four other victims with gunshot wounds were at the scene, police said. Both an adult man and a young person suffered critical injuries, another man suffered serious injuries and a woman had non life threatening injuries, according to DiMartino. All four victims were transported to the hospital.
One of the men later died at the hospital, police said.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas announced Friday on Facebook that a new ordinance on the table would require property owners to install more lighting and security measures at parking lots downtown. They would also require that lots not attached to businesses in the city’s entertainment districts be enclosed.
The mayor said in the post that when surface lots are not maintained, they frequently become a “breeding ground for crime, including shootings, drug sales, aggressive car sideshow activities and other nuisance activities that take police resources and harm neighborhood quality of life.”
On his Instagram story Sunday morning, Lucas added a reference to his earlier social media posts, “I regret implementation couldn’t be sooner.”
In an email to The Star Sunday afternoon, Lucas pointed out this is the second shooting in about six weeks at the same parking lot.
“These are not unreasonable requests; we’re simply asking parking lot owners to take responsibility for their properties. While the individuals who commit these crimes bear ultimate responsibility, property owners who allow their lots to become congregation points for predictable criminal activity week after week must do their part to protect our community,” he said in an emailed statement Sunday.
“...While law enforcement will pursue justice for those responsible, we cannot continue to treat these as isolated incidents when they occur repeatedly in the same locations. These are preventable tragedies,” he said in the email.
The police said the preliminary investigation suggests there was an altercation before shots were fired.
The two people killed in this incident are the 104th and 105th homicides in Kansas City this year. At this time last year, Kansas City counted 101 homicides, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes officer-involved shootings.
Another person was killed Saturday in a separate shooting at an apartment complex less than two miles from the downtown shooting.
KCPD requests that anyone with information about these shootings to contact Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS. There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS hotline.
This story was originally published August 24, 2025 at 9:00 AM.
