This has to change in Kansas City: ‘There’s pride in retaliation’ for teen shootings
Terrell Bell wasn’t the first teen gunned down in south Kansas City. Hopefully, he’ll be the last. Threats of retaliation for the 15-year-old’s death were real.
After Bell was shot to death last week, moments after exiting a school bus, another teen was arrested in connection with the fatal shooting. And residents of a south Kansas City community were left to wonder if the murder of Bell, a Hickman Mills School District student, was a harbinger of things to come. Violence traditionally rises in the summer.
Authorities have not released a motive for the shooting. Police in Kansas City must remain vigilant. Payback was a strong possibility, community leaders said.
“There is pride in retaliation,” said Hickman Mills school board member Cecil Wattree, a licensed master social worker. “But it shouldn’t be.”
Surveillance video showed three suspects chasing after Terrell on a street near Sycamore Park, his mother, Janae Drake, told reporters Friday. The pursuit ended with Terrell mortally wounded.
No one can imagine how this mother felt having witnessed the last moments of her child’s life on video.
“I’m hurt,” Drake said. “I lost my only son.”
The 15-year-old suspected of killing Terrell was charged in juvenile court with second-degree murder, a class A felony. He was in custody last week at the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center, according to a spokesperson for the Jackson County Circuit Court. The adult certification process is underway. The juvenile was arrested and taken into custody Thursday.
Talk of revenge began immediately after shooting
Life is forever changed for the teen suspect if it is proven he is responsible for killing Terrell. What can be done to prevent further violence?
After the shooting, a Kansas City Police Department spokeswoman said the South Patrol division and gang analysts would focus on preventing retaliation. But talk of revenge began immediately after Tuesday’s shooting, community leaders say. They want to interrupt those plans by speaking with the teens’ associates.
Marva Moses operates Hope Hangout, a Jackson County COMBAT tax-funded community program for young people in south KC. She first met Terrell when he was 10.
Over the years, the relationship between the two grew. Terrell was a frequent visitor, Moses said. He was respectful and protective of his family, she said. Terrell suited up to play football for the first time as an eighth grade student last fall.
“We were on to big things,” Moses said.
Like the countless other teens Moses has mentored, she noticed a shift in Terrell’s demeanor when he turned 14. Moses wasn’t too concerned. Most boys that age try to assert themselves in the Ruskin Heights neighborhood where Bell took his last breath, she said.
The young man was gunned down moments after he stepped off a school bus near Sycamore Park. Moses had just left the Hilltop Residential Center for troubled youth when she learned of the tragedy.
“We’ve lost another one,” a resource officer for the Hickman Mills School District told Moses.
Additional funding could help expand the program, Moses said. Some of Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas’ initiatives for youth are an option as well. But donations to Hope Hangout are needed.
Moses was executive producer for a short film featuring two students navigating life as teens in south Kansas City. After a game of pickup basketball at a local park, the pair leave in opposite directions. One young man goes about his business enjoying the day. The other teen is shown buying a gun at Sycamore Park.
As the video progresses, the first kid is seen at a local water park, presumably doing what teens do in the summer: having fun. He ends the day with a quick visit to a convenience store for a sports beverage. Meanwhile, the other teen used the gun he illegally purchased to rob the same store.
The four-minute clip was based on real-life experiences of children growing up in the area. It was dedicated to Tyson White, a former Hickman Mills student-athlete who died after he was shot in the back during a botched robbery attempt in 2018. White, one of three Hickman Mills students killed that year, was 18 at the time of his death.
Hickman Mills students need conflict resolution
The neighborhood where Terrell died is predominately Black. Resources are scarce. Investment is limited, as are opportunities to escape poverty. Residents aren’t a monolith. Most make it to high school graduation and beyond. It’s hard to remain hopeful, though. A child was murdered in broad daylight.
“For every kid struggling here, there is a kid moving through here smoothly,” Moses said. “It’s the same community but there are different experiences.”
Disinvestment in south Kansas City has presented numerous community challenges. Hickman Mills is the only public school district in the area. A high mobility rate has dogged the unaccredited district for years. Pockets of poverty exist and there are very few sustainable jobs to help families thrive.
That is a deadly brew. Police, school officials and the community have to continue to work together to dilute volatile situations before more children end up dead. Wattree characterized a community suffering from generational trauma. Conflict resolution and coping skills among teens are rarely displayed. The cognitive ability to discern between right and wrong takes years to develop.
Most young people in the district do not walk away from a confrontation, Wattree said.
“When you face danger on a daily basis, there are three options: fight, flight or freeze,” he said. “Our kids don’t freeze or run. They fight.”
A multi-pronged solution to reduce violence is the key, said Steve Williams, pastor at Saint Luke’s United Methodist Church, and president of the Hickman Mills Community Alliance, an anti-violence coalition. The alliance works with KCPD’s South Patrol and other groups to offer solutions. Volunteers with a willingness to serve are needed to teach life skills classes, Williams said.
Mentoring programs such as Becoming Men, introduced by Lucas and in which Terrell Bell was a participant, are a good starting point. After Terrell’s untimely passing, is the anti-violence work worth the effort?
“We cannot allow this amount of violence to numb us from finding solutions,” Williams said. “If we accept violence as normal, then it becomes normal and we don’t want that.”
Amen. Terrell Bell and his family are owed at least that.
