Protesters gather outside Kansas City store where teen was shot by clerk
“Closed until further notice,” read signs in the window of a Kansas City convenience store where a 16-year-old boy was shot by a clerk.
On Thursday night, about 40 people gathered outside to demand that it stay that way permanently.
“An injustice was done,” said community organizer Pat Clarke. “These doors don’t ever need to be open again.”
The youth was shot in the leg Tuesday afternoon as he walked out of the Pic N Save store at 59th Street and Prospect Avenue with a package of cookies he did not pay for.
“For a bag of cookies?” one person in the crowd shouted Thursday night. “Come on, man.”
The injured youth’s grandfather, Will Jones, said Thursday that his grandson did something wrong.
“But he didn’t deserve to be shot,” he said.
The teen underwent his second surgery Thursday, Jones said, and is doing well. His grandson lived to play basketball, but doctors say it will take about a year for him to get back on the court.
Police have not released his name, and Jones asked that it not be used because of his age.
Jones also said he wanted to thank the owner of a nearby business who used belts to stem the bleeding from his grandson’s leg.
“He was bleeding bad,” Jones said. “He helped save his life.”
The clerk who allegedly shot the boy, 26-year-old Mohammed Abdi, was charged Wednesday in Jackson County Circuit Court with first-degree assault and armed criminal action.
His bond was set at $200,000, and he remained in the Jackson County jail on Thursday night.
But Clarke called for a higher bond to ensure Abdi remains jailed.
“We have to make sure this guy doesn’t leave the country,” he said.
That’s what happened five years ago when another convenience store clerk fatally shot a 21-year-old man.
Frederick C. Jones Jr. was killed in 2010 at the Shell Station at 5501 Bannister Road.
Prosecutors also filed charges against the clerk in that case, but 33-year-old Akbar A. Rana made bond and left the country before he could be tried on charges of voluntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.
The family of Frederick Jones later reached a $3 million civil settlement as a result of his killing.
To reach Tony Rizzo, call 816-234-4435.
This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Protesters gather outside Kansas City store where teen was shot by clerk."