KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Downtown Kansas City neighborhood was awaken to the sound of gunfire last night. The incident left three people in the hospital with gunshot wounds.
A fourth person is also in the hospital after being hit by a car during all of the chaos.
Officers say they cannot confirm a connection between this shooting and John’s Big Deck, which is right up the road, but the shooting did take place in the two parking lots.
Shawn Tolivar, who lives in the area and serves as a member of The Downtown Safety Committee, says the problem is empty parking lots not being watched.
“You’re woken up by gunfire and the first thing you think of is ‘Oh my god, who’s dying and are bullets going to come through my window?'” Tolivar said.
The gunshots served as a 1:40 a.m. alarm clock for many residents in the area.
“I was instantly very nervous,” said Erika Baker, who lives nearby.
“Having a shooting like that happen less than a block away from my apartment, whenever I live on my own, makes me very nervous, makes me question the area I’ve chosen to live in.”
Police say the call of gunshots came in shortly before 2 a.m. When they arrived on the scene, two people were already shot, another was wounded but had left the scene and was brought to a local hospital by someone else. One person had critical injuries while the other two were in stable condition.
“I’m fearful for my neighbors who are sleeping in their apartments. I’m fearful for the people going to-and-from the bar,” Tolivar said.
And while all the gunfire was going off, one person shielded themselves using a car. When that car drove off, the victim was struck. As of this time, it is not clear if they were ran over or dragged by the car, but they are now stable.
“They’re not for the bar patrons, they’re not for people to come and just hangout, but there is nobody patrolling them,” Tolivar said.
Despite the amount of violence still plaguing this city, Captain Leslie Foreman with KCPD says there is hope and that we can turn this problem around.
“When you have people who want to make it better, we just need collective help,” Foreman said.
At this time, KCPD does not have any suspect informatioon and they’re asking anyone with information to reach out.