KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One man has died after a shooting near E. 29th and Prospect Avenue Wednesday before 6 a.m.
“Just walking in here or walking home, anybody can get a stray bullet. Anybody,” Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church cook Denita Jones said in an interview with FOX4 Wednesday.
Jones drives to work, but at times, she still doesn’t feel safe.
“Bullets don’t have eyes,” she continued.
Kansas City Police Department Public Information Officer Alayna Gonzalez said officers got to that scene Wednesday morning likely in less than a minute. They found a man lying in his front yard who had been shot multiple times. When EMS arrived, he was pronounced dead.
What caused the shooting is unknown.
“From the few things that we have seen, it sounds like it was potentially an argument that started this and went awry as they seem to result in lately,” Gonzalez said.
The area of 29th and Prospect is the same area where another person was found shot Tuesday just before 4 p.m. That person went into the J’S Fish And Chicken after the shooting. They’re expected to survive.
“Unfortunately, this is an area where violent crime does seem to trickle its way to,” Gonzalez continued. “So, there is always a possibility that something is linked, but there is also a possibility, a very likely possibility that they’re not linked.”
Gonzalez said this is the 130th homicide in the city this year alone. Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church Pastor John Modest Miles has been trying to curb violence in this part of the community since the 1990’s.
“I’ll be very honest with you, there has been very little change,” Miles said. “The numbers as we see it now are again, once it went down, the numbers went down as far as senseless murders, but now we see a rise.”
Comparing this day to this same day in 2020, 2023 would now be the second deadliest year on record, according to KCPD’s Daily Homicide Analysis.
There are no suspects in custody in either shooting. If you know anything about what happened, you can call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-8477.
