Teen dies at hospital after being shot outside the Villages Apartments in Kansas City
A teen was pronounced dead at a hospital after being found Tuesday afternoon with a gunshot wound in the parking lot of a Kansas City apartment complex, a police spokesman said.
Officers responded about 12:30 p.m. to investigate a report of shots being fired near 82nd Terrace and Forest Avenue, said Capt. Corey Carlisle, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.
Arriving officers found emergency medical workers treating the teen for a gunshot wound in the parking lot of the Villages Apartments in the 8200 block of Forest. An ambulance rushed the teen to a hospital where he was pronounced dead from his injuries, Carlisle said.
No suspect information was available and police were investigating the circumstances that lead to the shooting, he said.
Later Tuesday afternoon, detectives confirmed a KCATA bus was parked in the area at the time of the shooting. They said the bus was struck by gunfire, but said it was out of service with no passengers on board. The driver was not injured.
Several neighbors and activists gathered at the nearby the strip mall parking lot Tuesday, talking as police on the other side of the crime scene tape canvassed the area and collected physical evidence of the shooting.
Daryl Ivey, who lives nearby and has two young children, said he was bringing the kids home from school when he noticed some type of commotion near the Kansas City bus stop on Forest. He then learned a teen had recently been shot.
“It’s just crazy,” Ivey said. “It’s kind of concerning because with my little children that I have, trying to raise them in this neighborhood — it’s kind of crazy, but hoping that everything can get better. Just praying for the family.”
Ivey said cases of gun violence hit home for him because his brother was also killed due to “senseless violence” in 2013.
Desmound Logan, a Kansas City activist, said he was buying a Chevy Malibu in the area when he came upon the crime scene Tuesday. Following a rash of deadly shootings in Kansas City over the past few days, Logan said he believes more violence is on the horizon in the city.
“All this killing is about to get worse,” Logan said, adding that “a lot of innocent people” were shot in the past week and there are many families that are hurting.
The killing is Kansas City’s 68th homicide this year, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. There were 64 killings by this time last year, which ended as the second-deadliest year on record with 171 killings.
In 2020, 182 lives were lost, the most homicides ever recorded. The next year was the third-deadliest year, with 157 killings in 2021.
Anyone with information about the killing is asked to call homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information which leads to an arrest in the case.
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 3:20 PM.
