KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More than 150 families have felt the heartache of losing a loved one in a homicide in Kansas City, Missouri, in this year alone.
It is a grief that Alan Young Sr. knows well. His son, Alan Young Jr., was killed just before Thanksgiving.
"The pain and the void that is left from my son's murder, I can't put words to express it," Young Sr. said.
Young Sr. says he is doing all he can to support Young Jr.'s 6-year-old son, also named Alan, through the loss.
"'Why did someone kill my dad?' and then he (Young Jr.'s son) said 'will you be my dad?' and I said 'sorry I can't be your dad, but I'm going to try to be the best grandpa that I can be,' Young Sr. recalled."
Tuesday night, Kansas City, Missouri Mayor Quinton Lucas, Interim Police Chief Joseph Mabin and local advocates discussed doing better with the director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, Steven Dettelbach.
"We cannot get used to or somehow become callous to this," Dettelbach stated. "That is my single biggest fear as director of ATF, that somehow people will sort of say that this is part of the world we have to live in."
He says Kansas City is leading the way in police science that tracks the most dangerous shooters, pioneering police and community relationships that keep guns off streets.
It's progress, but Young will tell you we're not there just yet.
"Those that are left behind when someone is murdered have to live with that trauma the rest of their lives," he said. "The moment that they kill someone comes and passes, but the trauma we are all as a family, and an extended family, trying to deal with."
—
For jurisdictions that utilize the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline, anonymous tips can be made by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
