Wave of weekend violence leaves 4 dead, 6 injured; Kansas City eyes new solution
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- Weekend shootings leave 4 dead, 6 injured across Kansas City.
- Mayor Lucas proposes stricter lighting and security rules for parking lots.
- Police cite unregulated private lots as recurring sites of violent incidents.
Another string of violence in Kansas City over the weekend left four people dead and six others injured, prompting Mayor Quinton Lucas to push for stricter parking lot security.
The mayor’s call for new regulations came after a shooting early Sunday near the Kansas City Power & Light entertainment district. The killings follow last weekend’s surge of gunfire that left three dead and wounded two others.
Sgt. Phil DiMartino of the Kansas City Police Department said officers responding to a reported shooting around 4 a.m. Sunday near East 11th Street and Grand Boulevard were directed to a surface parking lot at East 13th Street and Grand.
There, officers found a man suffering from gunshot wounds. Emergency medical crews responded and pronounced the man dead, DiMartino said.
Officers also found four others who had been shot: a man and a young person with critical injuries, a man with serious injuries, and a woman with non-life-threatening injuries. The four victims were taken to hospitals, where one of the adult men later died, DiMartino said.
A preliminary investigation found that there was an altercation between multiple people that led to shots being fired.
Move to strengthen parking lot security
The deadly shooting came just days after a new ordinance was referred to the City Council’s Finance, Governance and Public Safety Committee. The proposal would require stricter regulations for surface parking lots in the city’s entertainment districts, including the Central Business District, 18th & Vine, Country Club Plaza, Westport and the Crossroads.
Lucas wrote on social media Friday that the draft ordinance would require property owners to add more lighting, regular security patrols and fencing at parking lots unattached to adjacent businesses.
“Unfortunately, in our entertainment districts, unsecured parking lots unattached to businesses are a breeding ground for crime, including shootings, drug sales, car sideshows and other nuisance activities,” Lucas said on X, formerly Twitter.
Sunday’s shooting happened in the same lot where a shooting occurred six weeks ago, Lucas said in an email statement to The Star.
“While law enforcement will pursue justice for those responsible, we cannot continue to treat these as isolated incidents when they occur repeatedly in the same locations,” Lucas said. “These are preventable tragedies.”
The ordinance is aimed at ensuring the lots aren’t a “center of criminal activity, Lucas said.
“These are not unreasonable requests; we’re simply asking parking lot owners to take responsibility for their properties,” Lucas said. “While the individuals who commit these crimes bear ultimate responsibility, property owners who allow their lots to become congregation points for predictable criminal activity week after week must do their part to protect our community.”
One dead, four wounded at apartment complex
Earlier in the weekend, police investigated another shooting and stabbing at an apartment complex that left one person dead and four others injured, DiMartino said.
Officers responded about 4 p.m. Saturday to reports of gunfire in the 1700 block of East 12th Terrace. While en route, they were informed that someone had been shot and another person had been stabbed.
At the scene, witnesses directed officers to an apartment building, where they found a man suffering from an unknown trauma. The man, identified Sunday as 39-year-old Victor Austin, died, DiMartino said.
Officers also found two additional victims: a man with a gunshot wound and a young person with head trauma. They were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
While officers were investigating, they learned that a fourth victim, a woman suffering from a stab wound, had been driven to a hospital, where she was listed in serious condition.
A preliminary investigation revealed the victims were injured in an altercation involving several people.
Man fatally shot in Kansas City’s Northeast area
On Sunday night, a man died at a hospital a few hours after being shot in Kansas City’s Northeast area.
Officers responded to the shooting shortly after 7 p.m. near East Sixth Street and Park Avenue, DiMartino said.
There, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. An emergency medical crew took the man to a hospital, where he later died.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the man had some type of interaction with another person on the street just before shots were fired
Detectives urged anyone with information about this weekend’s homicides to call the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS (8477). Information submitted anonymously to the hotline can earn a reward of up to $25,000.
Witnesses can also contact homicide detectives at 816-234-5043.
The Star’s Noelle Alviz-Gransee provided information for this story.
