KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One person was killed and four others, including a child under 5, were injured in a shooting Friday night in a gas station parking lot at the corner of 35th Street and Prospect Avenue in Kansas City, according to police.
Capt. Corey Carlisle, a department spokesman, described a “chaotic scene” as police officers were dispatched around 9:30 p.m. on an initial report of gunfire heard in the area.
Responding officers located one man seriously injured who was taken by ambulance to the hospital and later pronounced dead. Two women were on scene with gunshot wounds as well. One was treated there and released, and the other was taken to the hospital, Carlisle said.
Another female gunshot victim and the child arrived at the hospital by private vehicle.
All of the gunshot victims who survived had injuries that were not believed to be life threatening.
Circumstances surrounding the shooting remained unknown, Carlisle said, as detectives were interviewing witnesses Friday night. Police did not have anyone in custody, but Carlisle said police did not believe there was an immediate threat to the community.
Other details, including whether there was more than one shooter, were not immediately known to police.
Carlisle said there were many people in the area at the time of the shooting, including customers inside the convenience store. He said it appeared that all the gunshot victims were injured outside the building in the business in the parking lot.
“Any time where the normal to and from of our daily activities is interrupted by violence, it’s not something that we want to deal with as a community,” Carlisle said, adding that police want anyone with information to come forward.
“We want to give peace to the families and we want to bring justice to the individuals that are involved.”
On Friday night, police kept the often busy intersection blocked off to traffic on all sides. Police searched the parking lot for physical evidence, placing orange cones in clusters on the ground.
The killing Friday marks Kansas City’s 49th homicide of 2023, according to data maintained by The Star. Last year, the second-deadliest on record, 171 people were killed.
Kansas City police were asking anyone with information about the shooting to contact homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.
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