Gary Taylor shooting leads to push for gun control in Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine
For more than a year, Sheila Johnson has been fighting for increased public safety in Kansas City’s historic 18th & Vine neighborhood.
She heard the gunfire coming from Vine Street the night of April 25 when Gary Taylor, a personal trainer well known in the community, was killed and three others wounded. Instinctively she pushed her grandchildren — ages 4 and 8 — under a bed to shield them from the bullets flying.
Johnson worries it won’t be the last time she’s left fearing for her family’s lives inside their own home. Rather than simply wait for the next time to come, Johnson and some other residents of the historic neighborhood are proposing a change they hope to see take form: a gun-free zone in the Jazz District.
“We ain’t trying to take away anyone’s gun rights,” Johnson said during an interview with The Star. “But maybe this is an area where people need to leave their guns at home.”
The neighborhood is a staple of the Black community Kansas City and home to the American Jazz Museum, the historic Gem Theatre and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.
Many community members, including 18th and Vine business owners, have labeled the grassroots gun-free zone idea the Gary Taylor Law, posting the hashtag on posters next to his smiling face. Neighbors envision similar safety protocols as those added in Westport a few years ago, where metal detectors were placed on certain streets to combat gun violence.
But others wonder whether such measures will create a lasting difference in the district, arguing there needs to be more investment in the city-owned properties that attract crime nearby. And then there’s the worry of the historically Black neighborhood being unfairly characterized as disproportionately dangerous.
Henry Service, who owns the historic Lincoln building just across from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, acknowledged there is still some violence in the area.
“We had a bunch of initiatives that we did, and that did take care of it a lot,” Service said. “But don’t forget, we’re in one of the most dangerous cities in America.”
Taylor was the third person killed in the 18th & Vine district within the past 12 months in a city that saw 182 homicides last year, the most in Kansas City’s history. The first was 22-year-old Marcus Stone, fatally shot during a Juneteenth celebration as summer events got underway last year. Two weeks before that, 27-year-old Montel Ridley was fatally shot and four others were wounded during an early-morning gunfight on June 6.
All three shootings happened in the hours after most businesses had closed for the night.
In recent years, the neighborhood and the stretch of businesses in the Jazz District have sought adequate policing and resources from the city. Johnson acknowledges that she’s finally starting to see progress. But shootings haven’t stopped.
And in some cases, neighbors’ calls for change have fallen on deaf ears.
“The city has to do something to negate the danger to those residents,” Johnson said.
‘A safe and vibrant summer’
The weekend before Taylor was killed, the 18th & Vine Development Policy Committee, a division of City Hall, approved a safety plan in the hopes of preventing area shootings.
In March, the committee took notes from community members on ways to get ahead of the anticipated uptick in violence come summer.
Kansas City Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, who represents the 3rd District where the neighborhood is located, said the committee held a listening session to determine a plan for the summer, with participation from the Kansas City Police Department and some city officials.
The major takeaways from the meeting was neighbors’ desire for a stronger police presence, as well as hopes of controlling guns in the district, “which is extremely hard to do,” Robinson said.
From that listening session came a plan to ensure “a safe and vibrant summer” in 18th & Vine. The plan includes working with KCPD to ensure that they have off-duty officers available on busy entertainment weekends.
Robinson said the number of off-duty officers present will depend on the events planned each weekend. But they will be out Friday, Saturday and Sunday through late October.
Capt. Leslie Foreman, a spokeswoman with the Kansas City Police Department, said as of last week, there are shifts for four off-duty officers assigned to the 18th and Vine district on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Leaders initially planned to implement the changes in June. But, when the committee saw the substantial crowd First Fridays drew in April, they decided to make the change immediately.
Community members have also advocated for reducing the amount of car traffic in the district to make it more walkable — offering stronger parking instructions, placing barriers for vehicle entry, patrolling for litter and generally cleaning up the area.
However, funding remains a concern.
Unlike other entertainment districts in Kansas City, like Westport and Power and Light, the 18th & Vine District is not part of a community improvement district — where an extra sales tax is levied to provide a pool of money to pay for safety and beautification efforts.
Johnson said that puts the district at a disadvantage.
“We have to really raise a lot of hell,” she said.
Voices being heard
Last summer, the city didn’t seem to listen to the community, Johnson said. But something changed between then and this year. Now, she said, it seems like the community is finally getting a say.
Robinson acknowledged the change, too. Last year she was “begging and pleading” city staff for resources and solutions in the district. There’s been a shift this year. She said newly appointed Public Works Director Michael Shaw as well as City Manager Brian Platt, have put more energy and urgency into this issue.
Many decisions last year were reactionary, Robinson said. Going into summer 2021, they worked to be proactive.
Still, many argue the changes are only a start, and that a complete gun ban is needed to curb gun violence in the district.
Robinson said the idea is viable, but would take a lot of time and resources to accomplish. Not having a community improvement district or business association in the neighborhood makes it more difficult to organize, she said.
She has also been asked about the possibility of putting up signage that says “no guns allowed” on the public streets. “But that is in direct conflict with the state statute,” Robinson said.
Robinson acknowledged that the immediate solutions they’ve put in place are not enough.
“Coming from a public health perspective, yes, it can be prevented,” she said of violence. “But just putting up barriers and flowers and police, that’s not what’s going to cure violence.”
Johnson hopes that more attention will be drawn to protecting families and patrons of the historic and culturally significant neighborhood. To her, she said, the district is like sacred ground.
“Our ancestors played in that area. They raised their families. They ran their businesses,” Johnson said. “Let’s check ourselves accordingly.”
The Star’s Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.
This story was originally published May 30, 2021 at 2:13 PM.
