Police identify 16-year-old brought to Kansas City QuikTrip with fatal gunshot wound
The 16-year-old gunshot victim who was brought to a Kansas City QuikTrip early Wednesday and later died at a hospital was identified as Anthony Strassle, police said in an email.
Strassle was driven to the QuikTrip in the 6800 block of East Truman Road shortly before 4 a.m. The driver flagged down an off-duty officer working there and told him that his passenger had been shot, said Sgt. Jacob Becchina, a Kansas City police spokesman.
Emergency medical workers were also at the convenience store and they began rendering first aid before rushing Strassle to the hospital. He died shortly thereafter, Becchina said.
The driver told officers that Strassle was shot in a nearby neighborhood south of the gas station. Detectives were later able to determine that Strassle was shot on Freemont Avenue between Truman Road and 15th Terrace.
The teen’s killing is the 145th homicide of the year in Kansas City, according to data kept by The Star, which includes police shootings. That compares 113 homicides at this time in 2019.
Across the entire Kansas City metropolitan area, there have been 207 homicides.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said on Twitter that the fact that 44 victims of Kansas City’s homicides are under 25 years old should concern all Kansas Citians.
“This is why even in times of budget cuts we are investing millions more in mentoring and support for our young people,” he said. “This is why we are working with our schools on restorative justice.
“We have so much to do.”
Police are asking anyone who was in the area of the QuikTrip and heard or saw anything to contact homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information in the killing.
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 September 16, 2020 at 2:19 PM.
