Woman shot and killed at First Fridays identified as daughter of Leawood pastor
Update: Jackson County prosecutors on Saturday announced an 18-year-old is facing charges in the shooting of Erin Langhofer. That story is posted here.
A 25-year-old woman struck and killed by a stray bullet near a food truck at a First Friday event in downtown Kansas City has been identified as Erin E. Langhofer, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Langhofer was shot about 10 p.m. Friday near the intersection of 18th and Main streets, as crowds milled around from the arts festival.
On Saturday the Rev. Adam Hamilton, senior pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, posted a message on social media asking people to pray for Langhofer’s family. Her father is Tom Langhofer, a pastor of recovery ministries at the church in Leawood.
In a Facebook post, Hamilton said Langhofer was attending First Fridays with her boyfriend when a fight broke out and shots were fired. Langhofer appeared to have been an innocent bystander, police said.
“Res members and friends, please pray for Resurrection Pastor of Recovery Ministries, Tom Langhofer, his wife Marcy and daughter Katheryn,” Hamilton said in a Twitter post. “Tom and Marcy’s daughter, Erin was struck by a stray bullet fired at First Fridays last night in downtown KC.”
Capt. Tim Hernandez, a police department spokesman, said police were first called about a fight near 18th and Walnut streets. Because of the arts event, off-duty police officers were working in the area.
“When they (the off-duty officers) got to the disturbance itself, they heard the sounds of gunfire. They heard numerous rounds being fired,” Hernandez said.
“At this point, they began to take cover and they tried to identify where the shots were coming from. Of course, when you have thousands of people and you have shots being fired like this, people just started scattering in every direction.”
As police made their way to the shooting scene, they found a woman who had been hit by gunfire near the food trucks, which had been lined up on 18th Street.
Langhofer was taken to a hospital, where she died.
‘Lost a good one’
Gathered outside Langhofer’s family home in Overland Park Saturday, her close friends and neighbors recalled Langhofer’s radiant smile and wheezy laugh. One described her as “vivacious.”
Langhofer graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in social work in 2016, her friends said. The only time she wasn’t smiling was when KU lost a game, they joked.
She went to work at Rose Brooks, a domestic violence center serving people in the Kansas City area.
“She was a gift,” said Scott Kormann, a neighbor who knew Langhofer since she was born. “She wanted you to be a better person.”
Kormann’s daughter, 26-year-old Liz Kormann, was about to ask Langhofer to be her maid of honor at her upcoming wedding. The two grew up together; Kormann doesn’t know a life without Langhofer. She was always there for Kormann after her mother died, she said.
“The world lost a good one,” said Liz Kormann’s fiancé, Danny Dolan, 26. “We’re lucky to have had her as long as we did.”
Her friends Hope Farnsworth and Kate Westberg, who knew Langhofer since kindergarten, described Langhofer’s death was a senseless tragedy. News of the shooting shocked her loved ones, one of whom said they were numb and didn’t even realize it.
“I don’t understand how something so bad could happen to someone so beautiful,” Westberg said.
In a Twitter post Saturday morning, Mayor Quinton Lucas said he was heartbroken to learn about the shooting as he was about to read about another killing that occurred Thursday near 32nd Street and Indiana Avenue.
He offered his condolences to the families and thanked Kansas City police investigators for their work.
“There’s no work more important than avoiding future tragedies like these,” the city’s newly-inaugurated mayor said. “I and we have work to do to get more in our community, particularly our young people, to stop resolving conflicts with guns and violence.”
Earlier in the day Friday, Lucas’ team hosted a free block party for First Fridays in the Crossroads Arts District. The event on Baltimore Avenue between 18th and 19th streets offered a DJ, lawn games, temporary tattoos and a photo booth.
The Crossroads Community Association, which organizes First Fridays, issued a statement about the shooting on its Facebook page Saturday afternoon.
“Words can’t express how saddened we are by the tragic loss of life during last night’s First Friday event. Our sincerest condolences go out to the family and friends of Erin Langhofer,” the statement said.
“Our goal is to maintain a safe, welcoming, and creative environment for all. First Fridays continues to be one of the largest independent events in our region. The Crossroads Community Association has measures in place to handle the increasing crowds, but is constantly evaluating procedures to respond to new challenges.”
This story was originally published August 3, 2019 at 11:27 AM.
