As of Friday afternoon, homicides have torn apart the families of 100 people this year in Kansas City.
Of those victims--seven were children.
“Violent crime has increased across the nation we are still going to do everything we can to combat violent crime right here in Kansas City,” Captain Stacey Graves, a KCPD spokeswoman said.
Krystal DePriest knows the pain of losing a young child.
A bullet from a drive-by shooting in KCK killed her 10-year-old granddaughter, Machole Stewart
Previous story: Family of 10-year-old shooting victim Machole Steward frustrated at state compensation denial
"They will not get away with killing my granddaughter,” DePriest said.
Two years later her murder remains unsolved.
“As parents and grandparents, we’re not suppose to bury our children,” DePriest said.
In some cases children's lives have been cut short due to accidental shootings.
At 18th and Topping in KCMO Thursday, three-year-old Jermone Green died because, according to his family, his five-year-old brother got a hold of a gun on top of the fridge and pulled the trigger.
Previous story: KCPD investigating shooting death of 3-year-old Jermone Green
Weapons and self-defense attorney Kevin Jamison said Thursday’s tragedy was preventable.
“If you have guns in the home and kids in the home, they should be locked up,” Jamison said.
In cases where families are torn apart they come together to heal.
“As long as she got grandma,” DePriest said. “It will never be cold case I will fight to the end and I will get out here after her-more children lose their lives I’m going to get out and fight for them too.”
Stewart family plans to release balloons in memory of her late Friday.
Kansas City hits 100 homicides for 2016
Every time Gaye Weston hears of a homicide in Kansas City, her heart drops.
“They are not just hurting one person. They are tearing up families, tearing families apart and it’s hard to recover from it,” she said.
Almost two months ago Weston lost her son, Brandon Johnson. He was shot and killed in Kansas City— the 74th homicide of the year.
“I’ve had to go to counseling myself to try and learn to deal with this because it will, my life will never be the same,” said Watson.
On Thursday, the death toll in Kansas City hit triple-digits. Police investigated their 99th and 100th homicide of 2016.
“We want to solve those homicides as fast as we can to prevent retaliation,” said Captain Stacey Graves of the Kansas City Police Department.
To compare the number of homicides in the city this year, 41 Action News compared Kansas City’s number to other cities of comparable sizes:
Kansas City
Population: 467,000
Homicides in 2016: 100Tulsa
Population: 398,120
Homicides in 2016: 40Nashville
Population: 678,889
Homicides in 2016: 59
This week, after a year’s worth of meetings, a task force recommended about a dozen ways to make Kansas City safer. Among the recommendations were creating public service campaigns and adding more community resource officers.
Weston’s other son, Reggie Johnson, told 41 Action News he does not believe the recommendations go far enough.
“A lot of it is hatred going on out here. That will stop the violence. It’s a lot of hatred for no reason,” Johnson said.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
