Seven shot overnight in Kansas City, including man killed Sunday at 18th and Vine
Seven people were shot in four separate incidents overnight in Kansas City, including one man who was killed in the historic 18th and Vine district early Sunday.
The shootings occurred within about four hours of each other at 18th and Vine, Independence Avenue, South Benton Avenue and Linwood Boulevard. The victims included at least two women, Officer Doaa El-Ashkar, a Kansas City Police spokeswoman, said in an email.
Sunday’s homicide was the 88th killing so far in 2020, a year that has seen an overall increase in gun violence. At least 268 people had been shot and survived as of June 12, police Maj. Doug Niemeier told City Council members earlier this month, adding that the number was significantly higher than the same time in 2019 when 197 nonfatal shooting victims were reported.
Eighty-four were injured in May alone— an average of 2.7 a day.
On Sunday morning, half a dozen people meandered around Kansas City’s 18th and Vine district. Most were there to clean the streets after the previous night’s Juneteenth festivities.
But one man was there to grieve.
The man, who was in his 20s, encountered neighborhood resident Jacqueline Williams, 53, as she swept up trash. He asked if she had heard about a man shot and killed hours earlier at the same intersection.
The shooting happened about 1:45 a.m., according to police. Responding officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. He was declared dead at the scene by emergency medical personnel. A second man injured at the same location arrived at a hospital by private car, police said.
Williams had heard about it on the news.
“Well that was my brother,” the man said.
Williams found herself comforting the man. He showed her a cellphone video of his brother, also in his 20s, lying on the ground. Then he and Williams walked to the far corner of a parking lot where the video was taken.
The man stood in shock above his dead brother’s blood on the pavement. Williams said the Lord’s Prayer.
“I prayed for him, I cried with him and I held him,” she said about an hour later, after the man left and she resumed sweeping leftover litter into a trash bag.
It wasn’t easy, she said, but she wanted him to know he wasn’t alone.
Looking for solutions
“I am deeply disappointed that a festive day ended again in tragedy in my home district at 18th & Vine,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted Sunday morning. “Long after establishments had closed, gunfire rang out. We’ll pursue every option available to ensure residents and businesses in the area can be safe.”
Later, in a Twitter thread, Lucas recounted what he heard when he spoke to neighbors and business owners in the 18th and Vine district. Lucas said he heard frustration, but also possible solutions.
One woman told him it was the second time in a few weeks she hit the floor after hearing a shooting. A man said he could always tell when things are about to go bad in the lots nearby, particularly after businesses close.
Some neighbors wanted better lighting and cameras. Others want a community improvement district that could pay for better security, including off-duty police.
“Merits in all the ideas, but I primarily saw neighbors and businesses that want this jewel of our community to shine and who are tired with what we keep seeing,” Lucas wrote. “They’re right and we owe them better.”
Five hospitalized
The other shootings occurred after the homicide, with a separate incident reported about 2:40 a.m. in the 4700 block of Independence Avenue. Someone heard a number of shots fired, and arriving police found shell casings on the street and sidewalk.
Soon after, three people arrived at the hospital with gunshot wounds. Each said they were shot on Independence Avenue. One victim was admitted in serious condition. The other two were hospitalized injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, police said.
Police said no suspect has been identified in the investigation.
About 20 minutes later, police were called to a shooting near East 39th Street and South Benton Avenue.
A woman heard gunshots, then realized she had been shot, police said. She called a friend, who took her to the hospital.
The woman had non-life threatening injuries, police said after interviewing the victim at the hospital.
Just before 5:30 a.m., police were called to a shooting in the 3200 block of Linwood Boulevard after a woman watching from inside her home saw a man shoot a woman outside.
The victim was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, police said. She was later listed in critical, but stable condition.
Police are looking for the suspect, who fled the scene.
Shootings up in 2020
The 88 homicides so far this year in Kansas City are well above the 63 recorded by this time last year, according to data kept by The Star which includes fatal police shootings.
Councilwoman Melissa Robinson, who represents the Third District, showed up to Sunday’s taped-off homicide scene shortly after police arrived.
“At 18th and Vine now. Vigilant business owners and residents are fed up,” she tweeted. “The District and residents deserve better. This is senseless and tragic.”
Last month, a person was killed and four others were injured in an early morning shooting in the same area of 18th and Vine. Police were called around 2:30 a.m. on June 6 after they believe a fight broke out in a nearby parking lot.
When Williams, the neighbor, hears of shootings in her 18th and Vine neighborhood, she makes an effort to pray over each scene.
“I’m tired but I have to be strong for the young people,” she said. “I’m not going to give up trying to make a difference.”
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
This story was originally published June 21, 2020 at 1:56 PM.
