6 people killed across Kansas City metro last week. Here’s what we know.
Six people were shot and killed across the Kansas City metro area in the last week, including three members of a family who died in what police believe to be a possible murder-suicide.
So far this year, the metro area has suffered 63 homicides, including 37 in Kansas City, according to data tracked by The Star. By this time last year, Kansas City had suffered 42 homicides.
Last year was the second-deadliest year on record for Kansas City, with 157 killings, according to data maintained by The Star. In 2020, the deadliest year on record, there were 182 people slain.
Here’s a timeline of the violence across the metro over the past week.
Just after 3 p.m. on Monday, April 4, police were sent to the area of East 54th Street and Michigan Avenue to check out reports of gunfire, said Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.
Arriving officers were directed to a home in the 5400 block of Michigan where they found what appeared to be a crime scene. Witnesses told police that a man had been shot, but he was taken away in a private vehicle, Becchina said.
While investigating the shooting scene, the victim was found in a vehicle near a fire station on Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard at Agnes Avenue. Emergency medical workers rushed the victim to the hospital. The victim died a short time later.
Police identified the victim as 31-year-old Jeremiah Crow.
On Thursday, police found a man and two women dead in a possible murder-suicide inside a home in the 9200 block of Nieman Road in Overland Park.
The deceased were identified as Johnnie Hill, 71, Susan Hill, 64, and Desiree Hill, 34, Officer John Lacy, a spokesman for Overland Park Police Department, said.
Police were sent to the home 10 a.m. Thursday to help a family member check the welfare of those inside. When officers entered the home, they found three people and a dog dead, all from gunshot wounds.
Police, who are not looking for additional suspects, said they are confident that one of the Hill family members in the house carried out the shootings.
Details of what led up to the killings and when the crime occurred were still being investigated.
The killings Thursday marked the second and third homicides in Overland Park this year, according to data maintained by The Star. The city had one homicide in 2021.
On Friday, Kansas City, Kansas, a double shooting killed a woman and injured another about 4 p.m. in the 6200 block of Webster Avenue.
Police responded to the area after receiving reports that a shooting had taken place on the neighborhood street, said Officer Tom Tomasic, a spokesman for the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department.
Arriving officers found one woman dead inside a black car that was backed into a driveway of a home. Police found the second victim near the vehicle. Emergency workers took her to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound that was not believed to be a serious injury.
Details of what led up to the killing remained unclear. Police were confident that someone else had shot the women. Both women were believed to have been inside the car when shots were fired at them. The identity of the woman killed in the shooting has not been released.
The killing is the 10th in Kansas City, Kansas so far this year according to data maintained by the Star. Last year, the city had 51 homicides.
Kansas City’s latest homicide occurred Sunday when one of the victims in a double shooting in the city’s West Bottoms died from his injuries. The victim was identified as 20-year-old Creighton Goddard.
Officers responded about 1:15 a.m. on reports of a shooting near Union Avenue and Mulberry Street. Arriving officers found two men on the sidewalk just north of the intersection, both suffering from gunshot wounds, Becchina said.
Goddard was unresponsive and was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries. The other victim was also taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, Becchina said.
The killing is the 37th homicide in Kansas City so far this year, according to data maintained by The Star.
