‘Damn the violence.’ Friends, family of shooting victims in KC call for action
As the Rev. Adam Hamilton spoke at the funeral of Erin Langhofer, a young woman shot and killed at First Fridays in the Crossroads last week, he discussed a conversation he had with her father in the days after her death.
“He said, ‘Every dad thinks their daughter’s special, but she really was special,’” Hamilton said.
Her father, Tom Langhofer, then repeated the word “dammit” over and over again, he said.
And, Hamilton said, he was right to feel that way.
“Damn the violence. Damn the guns. Damn the kids that are raised in poverty and think it’s OK to carry a gun. Damn the choice to, in the heat of the moment, take out a gun,” the pastor said.
Langhofer, who was an innocent bystander struck by a stray bullet when a fight broke out, was one of at least nine people killed by firearms in the Kansas City area in the last 14 days.
Hamilton urged the roughly 2,300 people at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood for the funeral to take the spirit of Langhofer, a girl known for her big heart, out into the world with them.
“Are we gonna be those who bring darkness in the world or are we gonna be instruments of light?”
Gun violence, Hamilton said, is not God’s will.
The spate of killings has left families in shock and sent youth as young as 13 to jail as lawmakers search for solutions.
Among those killed was Steven Parsons, a 27-year-old father of two.
Parsons’ fiancee and mother of his children, Marissa Tantillo, said that she has known Parson since she was 13.
She said that while he was a wonderful father and husband he made mistakes, and his death is further proof of a need for change in Kansas City.
“I am not here to matronize what has happened here,” Tantillo said. “It has happened over drugs and it has happened over gun violence .... because of that two families are grieving the loss of a father.”
The past two weeks, she said, have been agony as she confronts the loss of Parsons and tries to take care of her children in the aftermath of his death.
During that time she also watched as person after person was killed by gun violence in the area.
“Down in Kansas City, hatred and violence is bred every day,” Tantillo said. “Do you understand how many shootings have happened just since my husband was killed? It is every day and no one is doing a damn thing about it.”
She said the community is breeding more violence by sugarcoating the lives of people who are killed by gun violence even when their decisions perpetrated it.
Instead, Tantillo said, the focus should be on the children who are left behind, taking care of them, and finding solutions so that they don’t continue the cycle of violence.
“Violence breeds violence and hatred breeds hatred,” she said. “It’s got to stop and it’s got to stop now.”
Tantillo said her first priority is her own children, but moving forward she plans to be an advocate to stop gun violence.
Tantillo said she has not yet spoken to any elected officials since Parson’s death, but she would like to.
On Thursday Quinton Lucas presented two ordinances to make it a municipal offense for a minor to possess a gun or for anyone to transfer a gun to a minor without parental consent.
Lucas said at a news conference that this might prevent gun use when minors became adults.
“I would suspect a lot of people who are 18 years old didn’t pick up their first gun at the age of 18,” Lucas said. “And I would think that what we’re stopping now is when someone is being indoctrinated sometimes into a life that they think they need to possess a firearm. I’m hoping that this is a break in it.”
According to records kept by The Star nine people have been killed by gunshots in the area in the last two weeks.
- On Friday, police said a man was found fatally shot inside a parked car at the Cloverleaf Apartments in south Kansas City. At press time, he had not yet been identified.
- Kansas City, Kansas, police shot and killed a man Friday who they say led officers on a chase starting near 39th and Indiana before allegedly pointing a gun at police. The man has not yet been identified.
- A 14-year-old from Olathe, Zavier Mendoza, was shot and killed in Olathe around 2:30 a.m. Thursday during a “disturbance,” according to police. A 13-year-old has been charged with second-degree-murder.
- On Aug. 3 police said, John Noel Jr., 26, was found shot and killed inside his vehicle after it rear-ended a small shuttle bus.
- Erin Langhofer, 25, was killed Aug. 2 when she was struck by a stray bullet after a fight broke out near 18th and Walnut streets during First Fridays in the Crossroads, police said.
- Aaron G. Mason, 23, died at the hospital on Aug. 1 after he exchanged gunfire with an employee at a midtown Wendy’s during an argument, according to police.
- Kansas City, Kansas, police said they found Adam Williams, 19, fatally shot inside his vehicle on July 28 in the 1900 block of North Allis Street.
- On July 28 Montae Robertson, 31, and Steven Parsons, 27, were found deceased in the 2100 block of Monroe Avenue after a shooting that occurred around 9:30 p.m, police said. Details of what occurred have not been released.
