Officers in Independence, Missouri are working two separate shootings in as many days, just blocks apart from each other. One is being investigated as an aggravated assault. The other is the result of a reckless gunman.
Sam Stott works in the Hawthorne Place Apartments in Independence. The complex is in an area officers have become very familiar with over a 2-day period. Stott described the scene, just a few yards away from the complex.
"We heard a little bit of commotion in the Burger King parking lot, and didn’t think much of it," said Stott. "But then a few minutes later we saw a car go by and then some cop cars came as well."
Officers tell 41 Action News they found a shooting victim in that Burger King parking lot on 24 Highway and Dover Drive. Witnesses told police, the gunman left the scene in a red Chevrolet. A few minutes later, and about a quarter-mile away, Officer John Syme informed 41 Action News of another crime scene.
"One of our officers located the vehicle in the 400 block of North Kendall behind me," said Syme.
Officers also found a second shooting victim there, along with "numerous" other subjects.
"This is definitely by far the weirdest thing we’ve seen,” Stott explains. “But it’s interesting there was a shooting up at the front of the complex last night as well, so I don’t know if they’re related.”
Investigators say that second shooting happened the day before, in a field just north of the Hawthorne Place Apartments. They believe someone was conducting target practice in that field and a bullet went flying into the apartment complex, striking a woman standing outside her car.
Officers say the two shootings are not related, but both put innocent bystanders in harm’s way. Officers have not made an arrest in the target practice shooting. They are interviewing several people believed to be involved in the Burger King shooting.
Anyone with any information about either of these incidents is encouraged to call Independence Police at (816) 325-7777 or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.
