4 injured in shooting outside church funeral in KC’s Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood
Four people, including a police officer, were injured in a shooting outside a funeral service at a church in Kansas City’s Scarritt Renaissance neighborhood Friday morning, police said.
Sgt. Phil DiMartino, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said three off-duty officers were working at the funeral service at the church — New Beginning Apostolic Church at 200 N. Bales Ave. — around 11:15 a.m. when “several” shots were fired from outside into the building. DiMartino said police were summoned to the church on an “assist the officer” call.
An officer suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene and released. It was unclear if the injuries were from a bullet graze, shrapnel or broken glass, DiMartino said.
Three other victims were also injured. One suffered serious injuries, while the other two suffered non-life-threatening injuries, DiMartino said.
“We don’t have a motive at this point, but we are investigating,” he said. “Was there someone targeted? Is this group violence related or was this just a random shooting? We don’t quite know, but all options are on the table, and we will thoroughly investigate each and every one of those.”
Citing church officials, KMBC reported the funeral was for Jerrell Westmoreland, 29, who was found fatally shot in a vehicle behind an apartment building in the 1300 block of East Armour Boulevard on Feb. 10. Also found fatally shot in the vehicle was 26-year-old Brittnee McMillon.
Church officials and Westmoreland’s family members did not immediately return The Star’s messages Friday afternoon.
Police did not have suspect information to release Friday afternoon. Detectives were canvassing the area and were going door to door in the neighborhood.
One neighbor told The Star he was home at the time of the shooting and heard multiple gunshots. His wife ran from their backyard into the home.
“It was a burst of five to six shots,” said the man, who declined to be identified for safety purposes. “Then there were 15 to 20 more shots.”
At first, he wasn’t sure what the sound was, but realized it was very close. Once the couple realized what was happening, they saw people rushing inside the church building.
Gunshots can be heard in the neighborhood from time to time, but this time the gunfire was so close, he said. The man described the neighborhood as a real one, where people know each other.
“People who live here want to live here on purpose,” the man said of the historic, revitalized neighborhood in Kansas City’s Northeast.
Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact investigators by calling police directly at 816-234-5227 or by calling the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS.
Anyone who saw something or heard something, no matter how small it be, could be critical in this investigation, DiMartino said.
“The big thing I want to say is shots were fired into a church during a funeral,” DiMartino said. “We cannot accept this. We do not have to live this way. Frankly, I refuse to accept this. Our officers will continue to work until this case is brought to resolution.”
This story was originally published February 27, 2026 at 2:13 PM.
