Teen killed in early morning shooting near home in south Kansas City neighborhood
Update: Police on Thursday identified the victim as 14-year-old Derrick Thurman.
A teen-aged boy died early Wednesday after being shot near a home in a south Kansas City neighborhood, a police spokeswoman said.
The shooting occurred just after 5:35 a.m. Wednesday in the 8300 block of Wayne Avenue in the Marlborough Heights-Marborough Pride neighborhood, said Officer Donna Drake with the Kansas City Police Department.
Officers responding to a call reporting the shooting found the teen suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Emergency medical workers declared the victim dead at the scene.
Homicide detectives and crime scene personnel responded to the scene and were collecting evidence and looking for witnesses of the killing.
The shooting is the first of two deadly shootings that occurred just minutes apart.
In the second, police received a 911 call shortly before 5:40 a.m. that there was an injury crash along westbound Interstate 670 in the downtown loop of Kansas City, police said.
While en route, a second 911 call reported that someone had been shot. Arriving officers discovered a woman inside a vehicle who had been shot. The victim later died at a hospital from the injuries.
The westbound lanes of I-670 were closed, snarling traffic into and out of downtown, while police investigated the homicide.
The killing on Wayne is the 81st homicide in Kansas City this year, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. There were 69 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 homicide is asked to call 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 provided to the TIPS Hotline that leads to an arrest in the case.
Kansas City police are working with Partners for Peace in all of the city’s homicide investigations to monitor risks for retaliation and to provide social services to those affected.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
This story was originally published June 7, 2023 at 8:05 AM.
