‘Journey of healing’: Fundraiser started for 18-year-old paralyzed in deadly KC shooting
Family members of an 18-year-old paralyzed in a Sunday afternoon shooting that left his friend dead in Kansas City’s Northland have started a fundraising effort to help pay for the surviving teenager’s medical expenses as they expect he may never walk again.
On a GoFundMe webpage launched over the weekend, family members identified the surviving victim of the shooting as Mikeal. Over the past several days, the young man is faced with “grieving the loss of his best friend” and also “relearning how to live without the use of his legs,” the page says.
“Faced with mounting medical bills, an upcoming transfer to a different State for a lengthy rehabilitation, and setting up life for Mikeal in their home, our hope is to help Mikeal’s parents by relieving some of the costs they are facing,” page creators James and Cheremi Schalk, the teenager’s aunt and uncle, wrote.
Kansas City police began investigating the shooting after officers were called to the intersection of Vivion Avenue and North Oak Trafficway, where a bullet-riddled Toyota Corolla had crashed into other vehicles around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 16. Dakota Rogers, 18, a passenger, was declared dead at the scene. The driver was rushed to the hospital by ambulance with multiple gunshot wounds.
Crime scene investigators later concluded that the shooting took place a short distance to the south in the 4400 block of North Oak Trafficway. Detectives interviewed the paralyzed teenager, identified in court documents as M.N., the driver of the shot-up car, from his hospital bed. He described a chance encounter at a stoplight with two unknown men as his friend, Rogers, sat in the passenger seat.
As they were waiting for a red light to change, M.N. told detectives, the two men pulled alongside and engaged them in conversation through the open car windows. They claimed the neighborhood as “our streets” and told the teenagers to “stop trying to be hard,” according to court documents.
The two gunshot victims continued driving toward a Northland park when they were sprayed with bullets, the surviving witness told police. Detectives reviewing audio and video, captured by area surveillance cameras, counted about 10 gunshots fired.
Based on witness statements, recordings, and physical evidence from the shooting scene, detectives concluded the other car reportedly involved was a Volkswagen with a temporary license plate. It was traced to a car dealership in Shawnee, which provided documents to police showing the vehicle they were investigating was purchased days earlier and co-owned by suburban teenager Isaiah Hernandez.
Isaiah Hernandez and his twin brother, Isaac Hernandez, both 20 and from Shawnee, were later arrested in Johnson County and charged in Clay County Circuit Court in the double shooting.
Isaac Hernandez is charged with of first-degree murder and attempted murder or first-degree assault. Isaiah Hernandez is charged as an accessory to first-degree murder and as an accessory to attempted murder or first-degree assault.
Both are also accused of other gun crimes, as well as armed criminal action.
Meanwhile, the GoFundMe webpage created to benefit Mikeal, the surviving gunshot victim, had gathered nearly $21,000 in donations as of early Thursday morning. Its goal was set at $500,000 to help pay for home renovations, a wheelchair, rehabilitation costs, travel and other related expenses.
“We have set a lofty goal but the reality is, this may not even cover everything Mikeal and his family need in the coming days, weeks, months, and years,” the page creators wrote, adding: “By helping relieve some of the burden financially our hope is that they as a family can begin the journey of healing both physically and emotionally from this senseless act of violence.”
This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 12:57 PM.
