Plaza employees call for more security after shootings injure manager, young teen
JJ Alarcon laughed when asked if she feels safe working at a sports store in Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza.
Less than two weeks prior, Alarcon, a floor manager at JD Sports on West 47th Street, said her boss was shot in front of her while trying to stop someone from walking out the door with stolen merchandise.
Then, over Labor Day weekend, another shooting happened just down the street by Shake Shack. Kansas City police said a 14-year-old was shot and wounded just after 9 p.m. Sept. 2. A 15-year-old was taken into custody.
In June, the Plaza Shake Shack closed its indoor service on weekends after 5 p.m., citing problems with raucous teens.
The incidents renewed conversations about safety at the Plaza, especially after dark and on weekends.
Compared to Kansas City’s other popular entertainment districts, the Plaza area has less crime, according a blotter run by the Kansas City Police Department. Dozens of violent crimes were reported between Memorial Day and Labor Day inside Westport and Power & Light, compared to eight reported inside the Plaza’s shopping district; 18th & Vine had four.
But eight is still too many, local shop owners and employees say.
“People don’t feel safe,” Alarcon said.
Others claim a clear safety protocol and consistent communication are lacking from Plaza leadership.
Kansas City Mayor Lucas said discussions are underway to enhance law enforcement in and around the Plaza with the help of police and rangers with the city’s parks and recreation department.
“The Plaza is too important for us to turn a blind eye to its challenges,” Lucas told The Star.
Taylor Bunch, a spokesperson for the Plaza, declined to comment. The Plaza’s general manager did not respond to a request for comment.
Manager shot
On Aug. 25, about 30 minutes before JD Sports’ 8 p.m. closing time, a man tried stealing an armful of items.
“My boss wasn’t having it because we get this all the time,” Alacron said.
But unlike most other robberies at the store, this suspect had a gun. And he used it.
As the store manager tried to grab the items back, the man shot him in the arm, Alarcon said.
Alacron said her company started paying for security in the store. That only lasted a week.
Since then, Alacron said three of the six floor managers there quit. Their boss has not yet returned.
Employees say they’ve taken concerns to Plaza management, but got nowhere.
“It sucks. And they don’t do nothing about it,” said Alarcon, who has worked at the store since it opened in November. “They act like nothing has happened.”
‘Step up their security measures’
Asked how safe she feels at the Plaza, Nycha Sukitti, a manager with Bruú Café Bubble Tea Shop on Central Street, pointed to a bullet embedded in the kitchen wall.
Sometime around midnight last winter, it came through the wall facing the street, sent teas flying off the shelf, and burrowed into the plaster.
Sukitti, 31, said the Plaza never notified her about it. Police did.
Asked how often she feels in danger, Sukitti said, “Every Saturday.”
Last month a group of teenagers started a fist fight outside her store. Police broke them up.
Then there’s the fighting at Shake Shack. But Sukitti said the shooting at JD Sports scared her the most.
She had hoped the Plaza would address it, perhaps by having security talk to each business about safety plans in case something happened again.
A message as simple as “We’re here with you. Don’t worry,” Sukitti said.
Instead, she said, there was nothing.
“I feel like all of us are not on the same page of how to handle this,” Sukitti said.
Anna Murrow, 24, is the manager at EB and Co., a women-owned and operated jewelry and accessory boutique down the block from JD Sports and Shake Shack.
She said managers and employees at nearby stores formed a neighborhood watch group of sorts, calling one another if they see someone suspicious.
“I think that’s where the Plaza does need to step up their security measures, because we’re all doing everything we can,” Murrow said. “This has been a conversation for so long on the Plaza. When do we not want to be talking about it anymore? Action is all it takes.”
In the five years since the Made In KC Marketplace opened in the Plaza, across the street from Shake Shack, partner Keith Bradley never heard concerns about evening shifts. Last week, he heard multiple worries, from both employees and a job applicant.
In light of recent events, he wants better communication from Plaza management, police, the mayor and the city.
“Increased communications across the board and to the general public can go a really really long way in making folks feel safe,” he said.
He has some ideas for improving Plaza safety: Reopen public restrooms so businesses do not have to provide that service and open a small police substation for officers to show a consistent police presence.
“We need to do what we can now so it doesn’t get worse,” Bradley said.
