Man killed when shots fired into Kansas City home; two others inside at time of shooting
Update: The victim was identified as 39-year-old Jesse Thomas, a police spokesman said Tuesday.
A man died in an early morning shooting Tuesday after being struck by gunfire that came from outside a Kansas City home, a police spokesman said.
Police responded shortly after 3 a.m. to investigate a call reporting that shots had been fired in the 6000 block of Indiana Avenue, which is just east of the Bruce R. Watkins Drive in the South Town Fork Creek neighborhood, said Sgt. Jake Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.
While en route, officers were told that someone had been shot inside a home there. Upon arriving, they were directed inside the home where they found a man who was unresponsive, Becchina said.
The officers rendered aid until emergency medical workers arrived and took over. The man, however, died at the scene, he said.
The preliminary investigation showed that the victim was one of three adults inside the home at the time of the shooting. The shots came from outside and struck the victim, Becchina said.
Detectives and crime scene investigators were collecting evidence and looking for potential witnesses.
On Tuesday afternoon, signs remained indicating that a killing had occurred earlier in the day. Remnants of yellow crime scene tape hung from a nearby utility pole, crime scene tape was wadded up in the yard of the house across the street from where the man was killed and white chalk circles remained in the street indicating where crime scene investigators found evidence.
On the front of the house, black and white lettered tape marked several bullet holes.
A neighbor, who awoke after hearing the gunshots but didn’t think anything of it until he received a phone call saying his house was on the news, said the neighborhood is rather quiet. He didn’t know the people who lived in the house, but said he thought they were new to the area.
The house has a well-kept yard with what appears to be newly planted plants, including a rose shrub with a tag still on it identifying it as a Knock Out Rose.
In the corner of the front porch hung a blue child swing.
The killing marks the 119th homicide in Kansas City so far in 2023, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. There were 94 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.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Kansas City Police Department’s homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS Hotline.
This story was originally published August 1, 2023 at 8:16 AM.
