Police are searching for the suspects caught on camera opening fire in a drive-by shooting.
Video obtained by 41 Action News shows a couple driving along 23rd Street with their personal dashcam rolling on Monday evening.
As they came to stop at Topping Avenue at 5:16 p.m., a vehicle with its windows rolled down pulled up on their right.
The video captures a gunman firing at least a dozen bullets in a matter of seconds from the backseat before the suspects drive off.
Watch the full video below. Some may find the video disturbing:
According to the police report, the woman in the vehicle that was struck by gunfire had two juveniles in the backseat.
"All of a sudden we hear this pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! And my oldest granddaughter came running and said, 'What was that?!'" Jimmie Eddings, a resident, said.
KCPD assault detectives told 41 Action News they believe the suspects targeted a parked car on Topping Avenue.
No one was hurt.
"They have no regard, they're not shooting to the ground. They're not shooting into the air. They're shooting at an object," Patricia Sims, a resident, said.
Sims initially thought the bullets were firecrackers. But for her and others who call the area of 23rd and Topping Ave. home, drive-by shootings are a fact of life.
"Both of these houses here have been shot. A lot of things have happened around here in this area. I mean it's scary and I don't like it, but it's not unusual," Eddings said.
Rosilyn Temple with Mothers-in-Charge is one of the individuals working to stop this senseless violence.
"I think its [sic] got to come from the community. It has to come from us. It has to be us who stand up. We know who is committing these acts," Temple said.
In 2016, the number of drive-by shootings went up 51 percent in Kansas City from 2015. There were 389 shootings with 950 victims.
"That could have been anyone. Why do we have to wait for it to happen to someone we know? That's what I want to know. Why do we have to wait for it to come to this? By the grace of God, those people were not killed," Temple said.
For those who think people can just escape this violent reality, it's not as easy as it is for the criminals.
"I can't just pick up and leave; it's kind of hard to do," Eddings said.
If you have any information regarding Monday's drive-by shooting call police or the KC Crimestoppers hotline 816-474-TIPS (8477).
Mother and two children caught in the gunfire
There are still dents in the asphalt at the intersection from the semi-automatic weapon.
In the dashcam video you can see some drivers taking cover, among them was a mother of two.
“The last ones he fired are the ones that hit my car,” she told 41 Action News.
The woman, who didn’t want to be identified, had just picked up one of her sons from school.
The nine-year-old and five-year-old brothers were in the backseat,
“He told me ‘mommy we're going to die! mommy move! and I couldn't move because we had a car ahead of us,” she said.
Video shows her leaving the area, but she returned to call police.
“When I heard the gunfire I was yelling—I was yelling and crying,” she said.
A KCPD officer found the bullet that pierced her car on top of the engine block.
“Obviously this person didn't care where the bullets ended,” Officer Darin Snapp, a KCPD spokesperson said.
The dashcam video that’s gone viral is a crucial piece of evidence detectives are working with to try and track down the suspect.
“It pretty much would be a closed case because we wouldn't have any further information, but with this video we actually have the actual incident which is so rare,” Snapp said.
On Friday KCPD told 41 Action News the number of shooting victims is up 30 percent compared to last year around this same time.
“Who does this? who just drives down the highway or pulls up at an intersection filled with cars, pedestrians walking on the street and unloads and starts firing?” Snapp said.
As for the mother who works in the area, she doesn’t plan to change her route because of this shooting.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story described the gun used in the shooting as an "automatic weapon." The gun is believed to be a semi-automatic weapon. The story has been updated.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
