Faith leaders host ‘Longest Night Ever’ to remember Kansas City homicide victims
Dozens of grieving family members assembled on the lawn of The Gathering Baptist Church on Thursday night for a vigil to remember those killed in Kansas City this year.
As a light rain fell, the gatherers held candles and sang in front of the white crosses bearing the names of the city’s homicide victims. At the end, several picked the small white crosses planted for their loved ones to carry them home.
Called the Longest Night Ever, the annual tradition falls on the winter solstice when the night is longest. It started in 2011 with a single cross placed outside Wornall Road Baptist Church to honor Rickey King, a 17-year-old student at Southwest High School, and quickly expanded to include the names of all killed in acts of violence each year, Pastor Mark Clifton told gatherers Thursday.
“We’re here to commit ourselves to make the city a better place,” Clifton said, adding: “(we will) never accept this as normal.”
Kansas City pastors and anti-violence leaders spoke out Thursday against the violence that has rippled across the community this year, and vowed continued support for the families most affected. The service included a display of the names, dates and ages for people killed in Kansas City in 2023.
As many cities in the U.S. have recorded declines in violent crime, Kansas City has bucked those trends this year with high levels of homicide and gun violence. The death toll remains on pace with the deadliest year on record, which came in 2020 when 182 people were killed.
As of Thursday night, there had been 179 homicides in Kansas City in 2023, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings.
Among those remembering family members on Thursday was James Tillman, whose 36-year-old son Todd Tillman was killed in Kansas City five months ago.
The younger Tillman was fatally shot in the early hours of July 14 near 83rd Street and Troost Avenue and found dead hours later in the backyard of a home a few blocks away. A 44-year-old founder of a local nonprofit meant to reduce prison re-entry rates is charged with second-degree murder in the killing.
Around the time of his death, the elder Tillman said his son had been helping the family out with home projects. His son was a skilled jack of all trades, he said, who could do everything from plumbing to electrical work.
“He was a Navy veteran, he was an Eagle Scout. He was adventurous. He would try anything. He loved life, you know? He loved life. This was a shock to us,” said James Tillman, who visited the small white cross set up in his son’s honor alongside his wife and daughter Thursday evening.
“We appreciate the church taking the time to do this, to honor these families and these individuals that were murdered, lost to violence,” James Tillman added. “And we hope and pray that the violence will stop.”
