‘I was so worried.’ Students describe panic after staffer injured in shooting near KC high school
Kansas City police are investigating a shooting reported Tuesday afternoon outside a private high school in Westport that injured a staff member.
A paraprofessional at Plaza Academy, 3930 Broadway Blvd., was shot just after 12:30 p.m. after an unknown vehicle approached the back of the building from Washington Street, according to Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman with the Kansas City Police Department.
Police said the man was alone outside the school to ensure safe entry of students returning to school, when the vehicle pulled up and someone fired multiple shots, striking him. Police said he then went inside the school building to get help.
The man was transported to the hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. Becchina said there’s no indication the shooter attempted to enter the school
Jacquelyn Barry, a junior at the school, described feeling terrified after gunfire broke out, saying she and other students hid behind a barricaded door. She said the shooting happened about an hour after an altercation between a student and the staff member, who Barry said is a gym teacher.
Ward Worley, executive director of the Plaza Academy, said the incident took place behind the building, and the school was placed on lockdown immediately.
With police surrounding the area, kids were later dismissed.
Police are still searching for a suspect as of Tuesday afternoon.
Barricaded doors and escape routes
Barry, 17, heard the gunshot while she was in the hallway of Plaza Academy returning from lunch. She and other students hid in their school social worker’s office. As she and other students panicked, Jacqueline Barry said she called her father Ray Barry, who instructed the students to stay away from doors and windows, barricade the door and find anything they could use to defend themselves.
“It’s the call you don’t ever want to get, and then you do,” Ray Barry said.
The students made a plan to throw a filing cabinet at the shooter if they tried to enter the room. They also thought of a potential escape route, just in case.
Earlier in the day, Jacquelyn Barry said the gym teacher had put a student in a choke hold because he was “going at” somebody. The student then threatened the teacher, saying he was going to “pull up with guns and a family member.
“We didn’t think he was being truthful,” she said.
After being asked to leave, Jacquelyn Barry said the student threw a brick through a window of the school. The shooting happened about an hour later.
The students searched Twitter and the news for updates while they hid away, Jacquelyn Barry said.
No students were injured in the incident. Jacquelyn Barry said the teacher was walking and talking after the shooting and is expected to make a full recovery.
“I’m just happy he’s OK,” she said. “I was so worried.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 1:32 PM.
