Seven shootings in nine hours in Kansas City

Shootings and homicides have been increasing steadily lately. As of Monday, May 18, Kansas City, Missouri, has had 204 living shooting victims in 2020 compared to 160 at the same time in 2019. To date, there have been 64 homicides compared to 52 a year ago.

I get asked a lot why this is happening and what can be done to stop it. I wish we had all of those answers. In nine hours from about 8:45 last night to 5:45 this morning, police responded to seven separate shootings. No one has died at this point, but several have life-threatening injuries. I’ve detailed them below to give you a snapshot of what we’ve been dealing with. In most, police were either close enough to hear the shootings when they happened or were there in minutes. Police presence is not deterring those set on committing violent acts.

You might see a few other commonalities in the cases below:

Uncooperative victims – From May 11 to 17, eight out of ten shooting victims refused to cooperate with the investigation and/or refused to press charges. A review of data over a longer period of time shows that two-thirds of Kansas City’s living shooting victims are uncooperative in the investigation. A majority claim they don’t know who shot them or why. Investigation usually shows that’s not true. They either want to retaliate, were involved in illegal activity at the time of the shooting they don’t want to disclose, or fear retaliation. If shooting victims don’t help police stop shooters, the shooters remain in the community and remain readily capable of deadly violence. We know who they are. We know what they’ve done, but we have no way to stop them within the criminal justice system.

Juveniles – Many of the victims and suspects from last night’s shootings were teenagers.


LAST NIGHT’S SHOOTINGS

8:42 p.m., 31st and Van Brunt
Officers were in the area of 31st and Van Brunt and heard the sound of multiple gunshots. An area canvas was conducted, and officers found someone shot in the parking lot of 3011 Van Brunt. Witnesses said there were multiple people exchanging gunfire from the parking lot and a vehicle. An ambulance transported the victim at the scene to a hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. Shortly after the incident, another shooting victim arrived at a different hospital with a gunshot wound. She was listed in stable condition. The suspects range in age from 14-17.

11:40 p.m., Linwood and Kensington
Officers responded to an area hospital after a shooting victim arrived in the emergency room. The victim told officers someone fired shots at him in the area of Linwood and Kensington and then fled the scene in a white sedan. The victim was struck in the shoulder and drove himself to the hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

12:05 a.m., 500 block of E. 105th St.
Officers were dispatched to a disturbance involving gunfire. They found a 15-year-old victim who said two groups of juveniles had been involved in an altercation in the parking lot. One of the juveniles pulled out a gun and fired a shot in the victim’s direction. She was not hit. The suspect then got into a white Jeep and fled the scene, striking another car and a fence as he left. Fortunately, no one was hurt in this incident.

12:42 a.m., 3600 block of Bales Ave.
Officers went to a drive-by shooting where, miraculously, no one was injured. Police recovered more than 160 shell casings from the scene. Children as young as 2 were in the home. Victims said they didn’t see any suspects. The shell casings were from multiple weapons:

21 spent shell casings of 9 mm ammunition
20 spent shell casings .40 caliber ammunition
19 spent shell casings .300 black out ammunition
79 spent shell casings .223 ammunition
21 spent shell casings .45 + 1 live round ammunition

12:55 a.m., dispatched to hospital
Officers went to an area hospital after a shooting victim arrived in the emergency room. He had a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was rushed into surgery with life threatening injuries. Officers spoke with the person who drove the victim to the hospital. The driver was uncooperative and would not answer any questions. Police are still trying to figure out where the original shooting occurred.

1:44 a.m., officers contacted at hospital
While still at the hospital investigating the above shooting, another shooting victim showed up to the ER with a gunshot wound to the neck. The 18-year-old victim drove himself to the hospital and is listed in stable condition. He was uncooperative and refused to answer questions about how he got shot. Other officers saw the man driving to the hospital and believe his injuries could be connected to several reports of shots fired at a house in south Kansas City, but everyone at the home refused to talk to officers.

5:46 a.m., 1800 Brownell
Officers responded to a call of a man in his 40’s who had been shot while driving a moped. He told officers a few possible locations where he was shot, and officers have preliminarily located a crime scene at the plasma center at 6000 Independence Ave. An ambulance took the victim to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.


What could anyone have done to prevent these shootings, including police?

Unfortunately, nights like last night have not been unusual lately. Our officers, detectives and crime scene investigators capably responded to and investigated these incidents while handling everything else in the city. But we could not predict them.

We are frustrated and trying a number of tactics to reduce the violence. We are, however, just one piece of the criminal justice system. Many parts of that system have been affected by the pandemic. We’re out on the streets when these shootings happen. We’re gathering evidence, investigating and submitting cases for prosecution. But we are only one entity.

Courts, prosecutors, jails, probation and parole – they’re all part of the criminal justice equation. None of those are operating at normal capacity right now, but areas of the system struggled long before COVID-19. To show how other parts of the criminal justice system have an impact, consider this example: two suspects who have been charged with shooting a 5-year-old during a rolling gun battle down Truman Road last month just had their bond reduced from $100,000 cash only to 10%. One thing we do know is that people involved in crime continue to be involved in crime.

I will be sharing some of the new violent crime prevention initiatives we’re undertaking next week. As you can see, however, we need the assistance of victims, witnesses, and the whole community to make progress against violent crime. We live here, too, and so do our families. We want a safer Kansas City. We want a quiet night for all of our neighborhoods. We can’t do that alone. 

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org    

We're making changes to address homicides and non-fatal shootings

While so much of our other crime is trending downward, shootings and homicides remain a persistent issue in our city. Although police are by no means solely responsible for the increase or decrease in these crimes, we are obligated to do everything in our power to address them and bring offenders to justice.

We also know we can’t work in a vacuum. It takes partnerships across the city and an evaluation of best practices nationwide to make the systemic changes needed to impact our stubborn violent crime rate. In 2019, Kansas City had 148 homicides and 491 non-fatal shootings.

A focus on prolific violent offenders

One of the places where you can see that change is happening is with the Kansas City No Violence Alliance, or KC NoVA.  KC NoVA has been and continues to be about focused deterrence, but after extensive evaluation, KC NoVA switched its enforcement strategy last year from targeting group-related violence to targeting individuals who are frequently involved in violent, gun-related crimes. This approach has seen great success in cities like Tampa, which has had a dramatic reduction in violent crime. Although the number of these violent offenders is low, they are responsible for the vast amount of our violent crime. Research from Tampa identified that 6% of their violent offenders were responsible for 60% of violent crime.

As a reminder, KC NoVA is a partnership between KCPD, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, The Jackson County Prosecutor, FBI, ATF, the Mayor’s Office and Missouri Probation and Parole. All of those partners remain at the table with us, and they are integral in reducing the gun-related crimes that plague Kansas City. We work together now more than ever.

But homicides and non-fatal shootings continue to be an issue in Kansas City, so we needed to adapt. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Public Safety Partnership spent 18 months with us evaluating NoVA and advising us on how we could move forward. The result is this new enforcement strategy that targets the trigger-pullers.

Reviewing non-fatal shootings

The Public Safety Partnership also introduced us to a best practice from police in our peer city of Milwaukee. As of January 8, we are now conducting weekly shooting review meetings. These cover all homicides and non-fatal shootings that took place in the past week and follow up on case progress from previous weeks. Again, this is driven by partnerships with state and federal prosecutors and Missouri Probation and Parole. All of the partners attend the meetings with our investigative and patrol elements to ensure each case is investigated to the best of its ability.

This new meeting of criminal justice partners emphasizes accountability: each of the partners – including KCPD – is holding each other responsible for effectively carrying out their role in the criminal justice process. This is a great improvement in communication and accountability through the whole system.

Adding investigative resources

With the dawn of the New Year, we have doubled the number of detectives assigned to work non-fatal shooting cases. All too often, many of the victims and suspects in these incidents later become victims or suspects in homicides. With 491 non-fatal shootings last year (a 9% increase from 2018), we have doubled the number of detectives in our Assault Squads from 12 to 24. They are charged with investigating cases in which someone is assaulted with a weapon but survives. 

We also have added eight homicide detectives, bringing the total number to 32.

These shifts have led to us moving resources from other places, like Mounted Patrol. That decision wasn’t popular, but it is needed to focus resources on stopping the perpetrators of gun violence in our city.

Ultimately, police can’t be there every time someone decides to resolve an argument with a gun. If you know someone who is planning violence, please let us know. We are making changes, however, to identify those most involved with gun violence, work their case to the fullest extent and ensure accountability with the help of our partners in the criminal justice system and the community.

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org. 

How does public policy affect public safety?

As we look for solutions to the stubborn violent crime problem in Kansas City, members of our department are trying several innovative approaches. Here are just some of the new things we’re working on to address violent crime:

• The Crime Gun Intelligence Center launched last fall. It’s a partnership with the ATF to forensically link guns to crimes to suspects. We have acquired new technology and staff at our Crime Lab to assist with this effort, thanks to grant funding.
  
• Risk Terrain Modeling looks at environmental factors that can lead to violent crime (e.g. liquor stores, bus stops, vacant buildings) so police and the city can proactively address any issues to make the environment less desirable to criminals.
  
• We have worked with our partners and the U.S. Department of Justice to refocus the Kansas City No Violence Alliance (KC NoVA) to individuals instead of groups. This will put the emphasis on prolific violent offenders and has been successful in other major cities.
  
• On June 21, the reward money available for anonymous information leading to the arrest of a Kansas City, Missouri, homicide suspect through Greater Kansas City Stoppers went up to $25,000. Two tipsters have now earned that reward. The first person got paid Aug. 7.
  
• We do extensive work with youth on conflict resolution and mentorship through initiatives like Youth Police Academy, Teens in Transition, Youth Police Initiative, Police Athletic League, School Resource Officers trained in conflict resolution, and the upcoming revamp of the Police Explorers program.
  
• We have implemented social service workers at every patrol division station to address needs that residents might otherwise try to meet through criminal activity.

KCPD is doing much to tackle violent crime, yet the violent crime issue persists. In the wake of numerous acts of violence in our city and nationwide, there is something else that must be considered that is beyond the scope of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department: We must ask whether public policy can make a difference in public safety?

First, consider this 2018 list from USA Today of the 25 most dangerous cities in the U.S., based on violent crime data law enforcement agencies submit to the FBI. Springfield, Mo., is ranked No. 12; Kansas City, Mo., is ranked No. 5; and St. Louis, Mo., is ranked No. 1. Out of all 50 states, Missouri has three cities ranked in the top 12. What does that say about the policies of our state?

If you want to hunt an animal in Missouri, you must attend a hunter’s safety education course and obtain a license. All of that is required to use a gun around wild animals, but recent state legislation has removed any requirements on carrying or using a gun around people. Now anyone 19 or older can legally carry a concealed weapon with no training in Missouri. Doesn’t it make sense for those who want to carry guns around people to do so with proper training?

The common refrain that usually accompanies calls for any kind of gun regulation is, “They want to take our guns away.” The Kansas City Missouri Police Department has no interest whatsoever in taking guns away that are legally possessed by residents. The law that applies to carrying a firearm for hunting – training and permitting requirements – is the same kind of law that should be used for possessing firearms, period. Law enforcement officers in Missouri currently have limited tools to prevent violence from occurring by taking guns out of the hands of those who want to harm others.

Since Jan. 1, 2008, a total of 1,346 people in Kansas City, Mo., have been murdered, the vast majority by firearms. That is a horrific loss of life in one decade. Imagine if we had a single incident with that many people killed at once in Kansas City. What would the reactions be? Would there be calls for some kind of immediate policy change so that could never happen again?

Public policy can provide law enforcement with more tools to combat violent crime, such as an effective corrections system, stricter laws, and grants/funding for more officers and equipment. Regardless of the gun laws, of which there are currently many, they are ineffective without a certainty of punishment. Certainty of punishment is more important than severity in the prevention of gun violence.

As I outlined at the beginning of this blog, the members of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department are doing everything in our power to curb violent crime. But those in the halls of the legislature can affect public safety – for good or bad – at a much broader level. Something has to change. We hope the frustration our community is feeling about violent crime will turn into the action that is needed to change public policy to protect the people of Kansas City. 

Send comments to kcpdchiefblog@kcpd.org.