Kansas City police investigate late-night shooting along 71 Highway that killed a woman
Update: Police later identified the victim as 40-year-old Latefa Baker.
Kansas City police spent the wee hours of Sunday morning investigating a shooting along 71 Highway that left a woman dead and a man in the hospital.
Officers with the Kansas City Police Department were called to the area of 45th Street and Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard and 71 Highway just after midnight Saturday on the report of sounds of gunshots.
When they arrived at the scene, officers located two people who appeared to be suffering from gunshot wounds in a car that was stopped along the southbound lanes of the highway above Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard.
One of the victims, a woman who has yet to be identified by police, was unresponsive when they arrived.
The male victim was conscious and told officers that shots were fired into their car from another unknown vehicle in that location.
Police did not immediately provide any information regarding suspects or a suspect vehicle.
Officers and crime scene investigators closed the highway for at least two hours Sunday morning in order to process the scene for evidence.
Both of the victims in the car were taken to a nearby hospital, the man with what police said were non life-threatening injuries. The woman was declared dead at the hospital by staff.
Police asked that anyone who may have been in the area on the highway at the time and seen anything call the department’s homicide unit at 816-234-5043, or the TIPS hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS.
There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to an arrest in this case.
This story was originally published May 29, 2022 at 10:08 AM.
