Kansas City metro suffers 6 homicides in the last week. Here’s what we know

Over the last week, six more people were killed as a result of violence across the Kansas City metro area.

Last year, Kansas City suffered its second-deadliest year on record, with 157 killings, according to data maintained by The Star. In 2020, 182 people were killed, making it the worst year on record for bloodshed.

Homicides have generally risen over the past 20 years. Since 2000, the city has only recorded five years where the homicide count did not exceed 100 lives lost as community leaders grapple with solutions.

Here’s a timeline of the violence over the last week across the metro area:

Homicides

On Jan. 17, Kansas City police were dispatched to East 12th Street and Topping Avenue on a crash where someone was reported to be injured. They found a man inside a vehicle, which had crashed off the side of the road.

The victim, later identified by police as 41-year-old Bradley Hendrick, had suffered gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Raytown saw its first two killings of the year last week. The first victim, Zackiery Lister, was found stabbed to death after police were called around 10 a.m. Wednesday to the 9200 block of East 54th Terrace after a report was received by a person saying he had killed someone in his home. Lister’s roommate has since been charged with second-degree murder.

The second Raytown homicide was reported the following day, when police were dispatched at about 4 p.m. Thursday to the 7600 block of Arlington Avenue when a person called to report a murder-suicide witnessed inside a residence there. Officers arrived to find two men dead from gunshot wounds. Neither have been publicly identified.

The separate killings were reported Saturday, on either side of the state line.

The first call came in at about 11:15 a.m., to Kansas City police, who headed to the 8000 block of Euclid Ave on a “reported prowler.” The call was soon upgraded to a shooting. At the scene, officers found a man, who has not yet been publicly identified, suffering from gunshot wounds behind a home. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.

About 12 hours later, Kansas City, Kansas, police were called at about 11:13 p.m. to the 1100 Block of South 47th Terrace where Tobias Hernandez, 42, was found lying in a driveway suffering from a gunshot wound. He was declared dead at the scene.

The latest killing marked the city’s third this year following 51 killings in 2021. Police posted a news release about the homicide, to which one community member responded on Facebook, “this is getting out of hand,” before asking police how to reduce the violence.

“Teach the young people in your life how to handle conflict without violence and model that behavior,” the department responded in a comment. “Show compassion for your fellow man so that they know their life matters. If you have issues in your neighborhood reach out to your Community Policing Officer.”

The following evening, on Sunday, another homicide was reported in Kansas City, Kansas.

Kansas City police initially told media that they were responding to a killing just before midnight near James and Genessee streets. But they later said the homicide actually happened just over the state line, and was instead being investigated by Kansas City, Kansas, police.

Police found a male shot inside a vehicle at about 11:10 p.m. Sunday on James Street near the state line. The victim, who has not yet been identified, was declared dead at the scene.

Police shooting

Kansas City police this past week said that an officer on a federal task force shot a man they were trying to arrest after he reached for a handgun Wednesday on Kansas City’s East Side.

The shooting was reported at about noon near East 25th Street and Jackson Avenue. The suspect who was shot was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening, investigators said at the time.

Sgt. Bill Lowe, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, said members of a U.S. Marshals task force, which is made up of officers from numerous agencies, were searching for a suspect wanted on a federal probation violation and a Jackson County warrant for aggravated assault. They found and then tried to arrest the suspect, who took off on foot, Lowe said.

The man, who Lowe believed was in his 20s, at one point tried to grab an AR-15-style handgun from his waistband, according to the highway patrol. One officer on the task force “feared for his life” and shot the suspect in the arm, Lowe said.

The highway patrol, which was requested by Kansas City police, is investigating the shooting.