‘Normal over here’: Police investigate another killing at Kansas City apartment complex

Update: Police have identified the victim as 31-year-old Jerome Oates.

A man was fatally shot in a parking lot behind the Stonegate Meadows apartment complex Saturday afternoon in east Kansas City, police say.

Just after 1 p.m., officers were called to the 10400 block of East 43rd Street on a reported shooting, according to Capt. Corey Carlisle, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department.

Police found the man in a rear parking lot suffering from gunshot wounds. Some residents of the complex saw the shooting occur and attempted to help the victim after he was injured, Carlisle said.

Officers provided first-aid before transporting the man to an area hospital. He died shortly after.

It is still unclear what led to the shooting, Carlisle said, but detectives are speaking to witnesses and searching the area for more information.

The fatal shooting is the second to occur at the Stonegate Meadows complex in the last two months, according to Carlisle.

The news of another killing is not a surprise to residents. Many have complained that the complex, only two miles east of Arrowhead Stadium, is ridden with “unsafe, unsanitary, and uninhabitable conditions.” City inspectors have identified more than 500 violations at Stonegate since October 2019.

For 31-year-old DeAndre Moore, the shooting marks just another day in the neighborhood.

His brother called him earlier that afternoon to say a man living in their building had been killed in the parking lot.

“He wasn’t really freaked out. Shooting is normal over here. Its not his first experience [seeing this],” Moore said.

Still, Moore raced home from North Kansas City to check on his sibling. Since Moore moved to the complex in 2017, he’s complained to property managers about the lack of security, high levels of crime and persistent maintenance issues, including water and electricity shut offs.

“For sure, it makes you concerned for yourself,” Moore said.

While Moore did not know the victim well, he often saw the man around the apartment complex.

“You don’t expect it to be someone you see around everyday,” he said. “I’m just now realizing, I’m never going to see him again.”

This will be the 37th reported homicide in 2023 for Kansas City, according to records kept by The Star.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call investigators at 816-234-5043 or anonymously through the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS. There is a reward of up to $25,000 for tips that lead to an arrest.