Blue Springs police say they’re following strong leads in teen’s homicide

Blue Springs police said they were looking into strong leads and had identified two people of interest in the Friday shooting death of a teen there, but no one was in custody as of Saturday evening.

Officers found Jack Price, 18, severely wounded after they responded to a report of shots fired in the 100 block of Northwest Vesper Street about 9:30 p.m. Friday.

The teen was struck once in the chest and in the wrist, police said a day after the deadly shooting.

Price was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his wounds.

“We will go down that road until we get to the bottom of it,” said Blue Springs Police Lt. John Kingsolver.

A friend of Price, Anna Buchanan, remembered him as “someone you could go to when you were going through something tough.”

Buchanan, a senior at Blue Springs South High School, is one of many friends and family devastated by the shooting death.

Buchanan, who dated Price in middle school and remained friends with him, remembers his sense of humor and his ability to listen to others.

“He was a funny guy. Anywhere he went he kind of like made people happy,” she said. “He didn’t really talk about himself a lot. He was there for other people.”

Buchanan said Price graduated from Blue Springs South last year.

Family set up a GoFundMe account in Price’s name.

“My brother, Jack Price, passed away by gun shot January 12, 2018,” wrote the account’s creator. “He was loved by many and will be missed everyday.”

It was the second fatal shooting of a Blue Springs teen in less than a month. In the early morning hours of Dec. 18, Colby Stephenson, 16, a student at Valley View High School, was found dead in a front yard in the 1700 block of Northwest Sixth Street.

“We’ve lost so many high schoolers,” Buchanan said.

Kingsolver said Blue Springs remains relatively safe despite the deadly shootings.

“This is not indicative of our city,” he said.

This story was originally published January 13, 2018 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Blue Springs police say they’re following strong leads in teen’s homicide."