1 person killed, 2 others injured when shots fired during house party in Kansas City
One person is dead and two others were injured when shots were fired during a house party early Wednesday in Kansas City, a police spokeswoman said.
Officers at a non-injury crash about 3:15 a.m. at East 38th Street and Wabash Avenue heard several gunshots being fired, said Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department.
Officers determined the shots had been fired at a nearby home and when they responded to the area, they found three victims close by.
Emergency medical crews responded to the area and one of the victims was pronounced dead. A second victim was taken to the hospital and was in critical condition. The third had minor injuries and declined medical treatment.
Detectives and crime scene personnel were collecting evidence and speaking to witnesses.
Detectives believe that several witnesses fled the house for their safety after the shooting and prior to police arriving, Drake said. Detectives are asking them to call 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest.
“The City experienced its fourth homicide from separate incidents in the span of 24 hours,” Mayor Quinton Lucas said on Twitter early Wednesday. “Enforcement is vital, but it is also clear that investment through youth mental health and reducing the volume of illegally trafficked and obtained weapons needs our focus.”
The first incident took place Tuesday morning with a stabbing at Northeast Middle School where a male student was found with stab wounds inside the school. The boy was taken to Children’s Mercy with life-threatening injuries but died in the evening, police said. Another student was detained as a subject of interest.
In the West Blue Valley neighborhood, police were called around 4 p.m. to the intersection of 12th Street and Hardesty Avenue on a reported shooting. A woman was found dead near the street beside a large apartment complex.
A few hours later, a man was found fatally shot inside a car in the parking lot of a Family Dollar at the intersection of 39th and Indiana Avenue.
Lucas said his office has received a plan from Children’s Mercy Hospital on expanding youth mental health and trauma response services in Kansas City. He hoped to fund that request through American Rescue Plan funds.
The city also hopes, contingent on Missouri law, to work with federal authorities to get repeat offenders off the streets and reduce the supply of illegally trafficked firearms, primarily handguns, in the community.
“This volume of violence this early in the year and this early in a week is not normal and we can’t answer with status quo,” Lucas said.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 6:46 AM.
