Mass shooting just latest trouble for KC nightclub, neighbors say. ‘Full of blood’
The sign on the empty store in the tiny strip mall at 7926 Troost Ave. says “Hidden Treasures Boutique.”
But that’s not how the young adults and teenagers, some as young 16, maybe younger, know the place.
To them, it’s Big Mama’s Play House where, on Friday and Saturday nights, across from the Phillips 66 gas station, they bring their own booze — as the online flyers advertising the parties promote — and pay $5 to get in, or $15 after 10 p.m., to dance to a D.J. until just before the sun rises.
Or, said frustrated residents and nearby shop owners, until the gunfire breaks out, just as it did on Saturday morning, when, around 4 a.m., a torrent of bullets flew outside the building, smashing windows, and sending nine wounded people to hospitals.
National and international media immediately pounced on the story, with exaggerated reports that the mass shooting occurred perilously close to the 2026 FIFA World Cup practice fields at Swope Soccer Village for the team from England. The Swope Park facility is five miles away.
But it is no exaggeration, residents said, to say that parties at Big Mama’s and gunfire are all but synonymous.
‘Oh, my god, most of the time when they have parties, they have shootings,” said Vivian Dorsaitville, who, since 2019, has run VJ Tropical Market, a tidy African and Caribbean food store three storefronts away.
Gunfire around KC nightclub
Dorsaitville said she spent much of Saturday morning bleaching and scrubbing away blood from in front of her store.
“This whole place was like full of blood. You see that spot right there?” she said, pointing toward a large stain on the asphalt parking lot. She exited her store and pointed 30 feet up and down the strip center. “We had blood all the way to the end.
“I cleaned it up. The lady right here” — pointing to another shop owner — “cleaned it up. It was disgusting.”
Neighbors said the parties have been going on for several years.
Fearful of gunfire, resident sleeps on the floor
“I’ve been living here for 14 years, since my daughter was two weeks old,” Danielle Thomas said.
The area at 79th Terrace and Troost Avenue is largely commercial, but just to the west and east are residential neighborhoods of neat bungalows. “I don’t know who owns the buildings, who’s in and out, but it’s constantly gunshots, constantly parties. They drag race in the street.”
Thomas said that on weekend nights, she is so fearful of stray bullets that she will sometimes sleep on the floor. She said she would move, but can’t afford to do so.
“I used to go up to Troost and all that. But I’m scared,” Thomas said. “I can’t do it anymore.”
According to city records, the strip center is owned by Premier Engineering Consultants. The Missouri Secretary of State’s office lists Raymond Okuagu as the business’s registered agent. Store owners identified “Raymond” as the landlord. Contacted by phone, Okuagu declined comment and spoke of consulting an attorney.
The Secretary of State’s office lists three individuals — Bianca Cobbins, Kyra Fields and Erin Harris — as the registered agents or organizers of Hidden Treasures Boutique and Spa, LLC.
The company was formed in April 2020. Big Mama’s Play House is not a registered company in Missouri, according to Secretary of State records.
Big Mama’s Play House
On Monday, Kansas City Police detectives arrived around 11 a.m. in search of businesses with outdoor cameras, they said, to help identify possible shooters.
Several young adults, who had parties at Big Mama’s in the past, came to visit the site. They spoke of the parties, with DJ’s and a $5 cover before 10 p.m.
“That’s how she gets the young people,” one said of Big Mama. “There’s music. There’s a DJ.”
“Dancing, smoking, drinking,” said another. “Normal Friday, typical thing.”
Some nights, they said, the parties are packed with hundreds of people, enough to fill the strip center’s parking lot with cars, the gas station’s the side streets.
“Honestly, I don’t think it’s very safe,” one said.
Customers, they said, are checked for firearms when they enter the club, but fights are common outside.
“The point is, she shouldn’t open this building because these kid in here are 14 and up,” said another. “She shouldn’t be open to no minors. They shouldn’t be up there.”
“I’ve seen 16,” said one.
When the group approached the officers with their complaints, one detective responded that kids being at weekend parties late at night is a “parent problem.” He noted that Kansas City has a summer curfew.
By law, minors age 17 and under must be accompanied by an adult after 9 p.m. in entertainment districts, such as Westport or the Country Club Plaza. Citywide, teens age 15 and younger must be with an adult after 10 p.m. The cutoff for children ages 16 and 17 is 11 p.m.
None of the young people who visited Monday said they were surprised that nine people had been shot.
“No. Not really,” one person said.
“She should be shut down,” another said.
This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 3:34 PM.
