3 unrelated homicides Sunday illustrate underlying issues in Kansas City, police say
Sunday’s three unrelated homicides, which all occurred across Kansas City within six hours of each other, have been tied to underlying issues detectives see often: domestic violence, mental health and drugs.
“Although yesterday was tragic,” Capt. Dave Jackson, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said during a Monday press conference, “we do think that it highlights some of the challenges that we’re seeing in our city.”
Police did not provide specifics on which of the underlying issues caused each homicide. All three are still under investigation.
The first shooting Sunday, reported before 4 a.m., left one person dead and another wounded near the Power & Light District.
Jackson County Sheriff Darryl Forté said Sunday that he spoke to the victim’s family. He urged the community to find solutions to the violence.
“No one should have to feel this level of pain and grief over the senseless murder of a loved one,” Forté posted on Twitter from the crime scene.
About an hour after Sunday’s first homicide, a reported “cutting” at an apartment complex at 115 Northwest Harlem Road left a victim with fatal injuries. Witnesses said they heard gunshots, but the victim’s cause of death was not immediately clear to police.
Then just before 10 a.m., a shooting left a man dead at an apartment building at Gillham Road and Armour Boulevard.
That homicide marked the 23rd this year in Kansas City. By this time in 2020, the city had recorded 29 killings, according to data maintained by The Star. Last year ended with 182 homicides, the most in the city’s history in a single year.
On Twitter, Mayor Quinton Lucas expressed concern that Sunday’s homicides “keep us close to our tragic pace last year.” He called social services and education key.
“We’ve seen over the years that investments in enforcement and prohibition as to narcotics alone won’t dig us out of our problem,” he wrote. “We must continue to increase and enhance investment in broad based prevention and intervention efforts for those at risk.”
Jackson, who noted that police are just one part of the justice system, said detectives are “stretched thin.” Usually by now, for example, police would be able to publicly identify each of Sunday’s victims, but they have not been able to do so yet.
“That’s the reality of the situation,” Jackson said.
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.
