Kansas City police investigate after 2 victims found shot inside vehicle early Sunday
Update: Police later identified the victims as 35-year-old Blake Whitman.
One person is dead and another is injured following a shooting early Sunday in Kansas City, police said.
Officers were called just after 12:30 a.m. Sunday to the 5200 block of Wayne Avenue on a report of a shooting, Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman with the Kansas City Police Department, said in an email.
There, police found two victims inside a vehicle suffering from gunshot wounds.
One victim was declared dead at the scene, Drake said. The other was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
No suspect information was immediately available. The name and age of the homicide victim has not yet been made public.
The latest killing marks the 97th homicide this year in Kansas City, according to data maintained by The Star. By this time last year — the deadliest year on record — the city had suffered 122 homicides.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call the homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
Gun violence is the subject of a 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 August 8, 2021 at 8:06 AM.
