KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Within the last week, several children and teens have been caught in the crossfire of violence across the Kansas City area.
"These are the types of stories that you shouldn't have to report," Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas said. "[That] we shouldn't have to hear about time and time again, about young people who are being negatively impacted again and again by violent crime in our city."
On Friday, two teenagers were killed in Kansas City, Kansas, while in Shawnee, a toddler was killed in a house fire.
Across the state line and in Kansas City, Missouri, a mother allegedly killed her 6 year-old son last week.
Early Monday, a 5 year-old boy was shot and wounded in a car and later that day, a teenager was shot and dropped off at a hospital.
"I think people think about those as a little bit of an extra tragedy," Jake Becchina, a KCPD public information officer said. "They're just a little bit more challenging for people to comprehend or to think through."
Police and groups focused on reducing the violence across the Kansas City area told KSHB 41 News that a solution starts with talking about conflict resolution.
"[We have to] Practice healthy conflict resolution in the household, normalizing, 'I'm sorry, I was wrong, let's try something else,'" Marvia Jones, the director at the KCMO Health Department said. "That should definitely be something that families are perpetuating in their households, spreading the message that 'Hey, it's okay to not win every argument or every conflict.'"
Aim4Peace is a public health approach to reducing shootings and homicides in the Kansas City area.
"One of the things we're looking at as a health department, is how we can train and empower some other individuals in our community," Jones said. "So that more people in the neighborhood level have sort of a basis understanding of how to talk to people who have experienced this type of trauma, in an effort to more immediately get people the help that they need."
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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.
