Victim of KC highway shootings heard sharp sound. Then she saw a bullet hole in her leg
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Shootings left one person dead and four people injured; police suspect one man.
- A bullet pierced Simms' car and struck her right leg.
- Simms expressed concern that Kansas City faces a significant problem with gun violence.
As Kansas City’s Shawanna Simms exited Interstate 70 at Paseo Boulevard Tuesday evening, she heard a sharp sound and immediately wondered if she had lost a tire.
A bullet had screamed through her car and struck her leg, but she didn’t know it just yet.
In quick succession, she and a handful of other victims would be shot in separate incidents along Kansas City roadways a little before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. The shootings, which police suspect were committed by one man, left one person dead and four people injured.
Not yet aware of her injury, Simms slowed and asked a man on the side of the road if her tires were still in good shape.
At first glance, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was then that she felt a hot sensation and noticed the bullet hole in her right leg. The man then noticed a bullet hole in her car door. Realization kicked in for them both.
She had been shot.
The man and another woman waited with her until police and paramedics arrived. She could hear on their radios reports of two other shootings, Simms said.
“I’m thinking I don’t have road rage, I didn’t honk at nobody, I got over with no problem on the highway,” Simms said Thursday. “I didn’t understand what happened. I was still in a state of shock — I still am in a state of shock, because it’s like, how did this happen?”
Fortunately, she slowed to a stop before she realized she had been hit.
“I was just covered, I say, because it hit my right leg, I’m driving while I’m hit and didn’t realize I was hit and came to a complete stop and still didn’t realize I was hit,” she said. “It’s just grace.”
After Simms was shot, she was taken to a hospital, where another victim, who was also bloodied, was being dropped off just as she was, she said. Simms had surgery on her leg, was released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
“I have five children, and I have a high tolerance for pain, but that pain was like no other pain,” she said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to ever have to experience that pain.”
Kansas City highway shootings
Simms was among a handful of victims in a series of shootings that left one man dead and four people injured along a stretch of Kansas City roadways that included Interstate 670, Interstate 70 and Truman Road Tuesday night. Police have linked one man, Oscar Sanchez-Munoz, to the shootings.
The man had not been arrested as of Thursday evening, as law enforcement around the Kansas City metro continued to search for him. Police have sought Sanchez-Munoz in a pair of standoffs — one in Kansas City and another in Independence — but so far have not located him.
The FBI announced Thursday evening that it was offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Sanchez-Munoz and said that its Kansas City field office was assisting in the search.
The FBI said the man "should be considered armed and dangerous.”
The shootings happened Tuesday evening at I-670 and Wyoming Street, I-70 and Paseo Boulevard, I-70 and Prospect Avenue, and at Truman Road and Hardesty Avenue, police have said. One man died after his vehicle crashed at Truman Road and Bennington Avenue, and investigators believe that man was shot by the same suspect, police said.
On Thursday, Kansas City, Kansas, police linked Sanchez-Munoz to a June 11 shooting in which a vehicle occupied by an adult and a child was hit by gunfire in the area of 7th Street and Metropolitan Avenue.
Police said they identified the man and his residence and the information was used to create a metro-wide officer safety alert. A warrant was issued for his arrest.
Police have asked anyone with information about Sanchez-Munoz to call 911 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. The FBI can be reached at 816-512-8200.
‘Long road ahead’
Simms was raised to be observant and keeps a close eye on her surroundings, but has no idea where the person was who shot her or what happened to set off the shooting. She had just celebrated Juneteenth with her Amazon coworkers, wrapped up a 10-hour shift and was headed over to pick up her brother, she said.
“It has to be random,” Simms said.
Now, she’s left to grapple with her recovery and what could have been. What if one of her children had been with her?
“It’s going to be a long road ahead, mentally and physically,” she said.
“Sometimes I don’t want to turn on the news because it’s always gun violence, gun violence,” Simms said. “I feel like Kansas City has a very big issue with guns and violence. I don’t know what could be done to help that, but it’s definitely an issue that needs help.”
