Loved ones raise money for family of man fatally shot Saturday in Kansas City
Loved ones are raising money for the family of a 31-year-old man who was fatally shot early Saturday in Kansas City.
Officers found Richard Louis ‘Rico’ Gonzalez unresponsive around 1 a.m. in the front yard of a home in the 1800 block of Mercier Street, according to the Kansas City Police Department. Emergency medical crews responded and pronounced Gonzalez dead at the scene.
A loved one started a GoFundMe to raise money for Gonzalez’s funeral and to help pay for expenses to raise his daughter Athena.
Gonzalez, who grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, was “goofy and always loving,” a loved one wrote on GoFundMe.
At family events, he talked to everyone, hugged them and told them he loved them. He always told his daughter how much he cared for her and didn’t mind when anyone called him a “mama’s boy” because of his love for his mother.
Gonzalez also enjoyed music, and wrote and rapped his own songs.
“The friendships he made along the way will last a lifetime,” a loved one wrote on GoFundMe. “The memories we have of him will live on forever through our hearts and his love will forever be felt.”
Gonzalez’s killing was the 170th homicide in Kansas City this year, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. As of Tuesday, there were more homicides in Kansas City this year than in 2022, which was previously considered the city’s second deadliest year ever recorded.
Police said they currently have no suspects and the investigation is ongoing.
Anyone who may have information about the shooting should call homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
