‘We need to come together.’ Family of slain KC man wants killer to surrender to police
After a Kansas City man was fatally shot at a liquor store over the weekend, his family is begging for the person responsible for the killing to turn themselves in.
They identified Gerald Dominic Berry Jr. as the victim who was shot just before midnight Nov. 15 in the 7500 block of East 87th Street in Kansas City. Led by KC Mothers in Charge, dozens of relatives and friends gathered for a vigil Tuesday evening across the street from where the shooting took place.
During the vigil, Ernestine Winn told the crowd through tears that her family is hurting with each day that passes and wishes her son’s killer would surrender to police.
Winn called 38-year-old Berry a loving father of two children and a Kansas City native who was very active in sports when he was a student at Southeast High School. His wife, Tyra Buie, said he worked as a cook, one of his favorite things to do, his family said.
Winn said she doesn’t know what led up to her son being killed, but said police told her Berry appeared to be “at the wrong place at the wrong time” when he was shot.
Kansas City police, which is investigating the homicide, have released few details about the case.
In a news release, police said officers were called to the scene to investigate “a disturbance with a weapon.” Arriving officers saw a male running away but weren’t able to catch that person. In its latest update Nov. 17, police said in an email they were still looking to identify a person of interest. Police distributed an image of that person, who was described as a male wearing a yellow hoodie. No arrests have been announced.
So far, the city has seen 131 homicides this year, according to data kept by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings.
“They need to get these people off the streets, get these guns off the streets,” Winn said. “This is horrible what’s going on and every time you wake up, you’re seeing kids being killed and just taking innocent people out of here. ... This is my hometown, but I’m ashamed to even be here anymore, and with my son being taken like this, I really don’t feel like I want to be here.”
Buie added, “You just want to move out of the city and go somewhere else and start fresh.”
Rosilyn Temple, who leads the Kansas City chapter of Mothers in Charge, said her organization has responded this year to at least 100 homicides in an effort to reach out to the victims’ families. Temple, whose son, Antonio Thompson, was found murdered eight years ago this Saturday, shared her story on Tuesday and told grieving friends and family “you never get over losing a child.”
“After everything is over, everybody goes back to a normal life and what’s normal to them, but one thing we cannot forget is that this family life is never going to be normal,” Temple said.
Winn and Buie, along with Temple, said the community needs to speak up on behalf of Berry, who was a father of two children, ages 11 and 15.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Kansas City Police Department’s Homicide Unit at 816-234-5043 or call the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-8477. A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest.
“We need to come together as a community and don’t hold things in. If you know something and you’ve seen something and you know where this guy is, please turn him in,” Winn said. “He took these kids’ father... They can’t sleep, they can’t eat. They were really close to their dad, and they had their dad at home every day. ... He was raising his family, and to just get taken from us like this, somebody needs to speak up.”
