Woman laments fatal shooting of 20-year-old granddaughter outside bar

Vickie Gleason expected to receive a phone call Monday from her granddaughter asking about the family’s annual Labor Day dinner.

But the call never came.

Instead, Kansas City police visited Edward and Vickie Gleason’s Kansas City home about 7 a.m. Monday to inform them that their granddaughter, Neká Gleason, had been shot and killed hours earlier after an altercation outside the Point Bar & Grill in the 900 block of West 44th Street.

“You still expect her phone call because it was so surreal to believe that she was gone,” said Vickie Gleason, who teamed with her husband to raise Neká. “It is still hard to believe, even now, that she won’t be with us anymore.”

No arrests had been made Tuesday.

Police called to the shooting scene about 2:45 a.m. Monday found a man in his mid-20s with a gunshot wound to his shoulder. Vickie Gleason identified him as her 23-year-old grandson. He was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition.

Police found Neká Gleason sprawled in the parking lot.

Her death shook the family deeply, Vickie Gleason said.

“She was a sweet person. If you asked her to help, she would help you. She didn’t hesitate,” Gleason said. “She pretty much stayed to herself. She was a good girl.”

Neká Gleason worked part time at the QuikTrip at Missouri 150 and U.S. 49 and at the AT&T store on Ward Parkway. She moved into an apartment three months ago.

“She wanted to be independent and wanted to know what it was like to be on her own and pay her own bills,” Vickie Gleason said. “She was just beginning her life as a young 20-year-old.”

Neká Gleason loved playing basketball and playing video games with relatives. The 2013 graduate of Ruskin High School had planned to enlist in the Air Force in January, Vickie Gleason said.

It was typical for Neká Gleason to visit or call her grandmother three or four times a week.

Neká Gleason was especially close to her brother. They spoke nearly every day and frequently went out together with friends, Vickie Gleason said.

“We raised our granddaughter and her brother,” she said. “Losing one of them is like losing one of our children.”

The family has set up a page at www.gofundme.com/Nekaburialexpense to help pay for funeral expenses.

Police ask anyone with information about the shooting incident to call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 1:05 PM with the headline "Woman laments fatal shooting of 20-year-old granddaughter outside bar."