Shooter was drunk, had been told to leave KC funeral before opening fire, witness says
A man who opened fire at a funeral home in south Kansas City Friday morning, injuring four people, was drunk and had been asked to leave before the shooting, according to one employee.
The employee, who said his wife was inside the Elite Funeral Chapel, 11525 Blue Ridge Blvd., at the time, said after staff asked the man to leave he was seen exiting but then returning with a gun.
“He went out and one of the other guys that works in there saw him with a gun and he told everybody he had a gun,” the employee said.
The man returned and shot a woman as she was sitting on a couch in the funeral home, the employee said. After funeral home workers and others removed the man from the building, he shot one other person outside that the employee knew of. Police would find a third shooting victim also outside the funeral home.
The Star is not naming the employee in this story to protect his safety while the shooter remains at large.
Three people were shot, one of them critically injured, and a fourth person was also hurt during the incident, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Police respond to shooting at funeral home
Police responding to the shooting about 11:40 a.m. found one of the victims, a woman, inside the chapel. Another victim, a man, was found inside the laundromat next door. The third victim, a man, was found outside the funeral home, Foreman said.
All three were taken to hospitals to be treated. One victim was in critical condition. The two others were in stable condition, she said.
A fourth person had minor injuries, but it was unknown if he was grazed by gunfire or by glass. He did not require treatment.
All of the victims, except the person found in the laundromat, are believed to have been associated with the funeral. None of the chapel’s employees are believed to have been injured, Foreman said.
The preliminary investigation indicates that there was some type of dispute at the chapel. It was not known if it occurred inside or outside the chapel, Foreman said. It was not known what the dispute entailed.
Police did not have any suspects and no one was in custody.
Officers were talking with witnesses, trying to figure out who was involved in the shooting.
Anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).
Following the shooting, police helicopters circled overhead Friday afternoon. The funeral chapel’s parking lot off of Blue Ridge and Holiday Drive remained closed off with police tape surrounding a swath of the area. Officers lined cones outside the chapel while crime scene personnel took photos. The large police response attracted passersby to stop at a nearby strip mall and ask what had happened.
One woman said she lives nearby but avoids the area where the shooting took place because it feels unsafe.
Shootings do unfortunately happen at funerals, Foreman said. She did not know if they had responded before to one at Elite Funeral Chapel.
Violence at funeral homes
Escalating violence at funeral homes in Kansas City and across the nation has forced some funeral directors to change the way they do business to keep mourners and their employees safe. Some funeral homes have turned to requesting police presence, installing surveillance cameras and keeping funeral information private. Some directors carry guns.
In a 2021 story, The Star looked at the growing problem and how it was affecting Kansas City funeral homes, including Elite Funeral Chapel, which is owned by Malcolm Morris.
At the time, Morris said that years ago he stopped doing funerals for homicide victims, with rare exception. He hires off-duty Kansas City Police Department officers for security if he thinks there might be trouble at a funeral.
Morris is the son of Eugene R. “Gene” Morris, a well-known entrepreneur who until he died ran E. R. Morris Funeral Chapel at 41st Street and Troost Avenue.
Morris recalled helping his “Pops” escort caskets out of Kansas City churches toting shotguns because someone had anonymously threatened to shoot the mourners. It never happened, but his father kept guns handy under the seats in the limousine in case trouble broke out.
Morris said in the interview that he had never done that.
This story was originally published January 20, 2023 at 4:24 PM.
