KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A five-year-old boy injured in a triple shooting early Monday morning in Kansas City, Missouri, has been released from the hospital, according to family.
It comes as homicide detectives are working to find the person who fired the weapon that killed his mother and her boyfriend.
There was anything but peace on Linwood Boulevard overnight.
Marcellus Casey heard at least six rounds that Kansas City police said came from a parking lot at the corner of Agnes Avenue.
The bullets fatally struck Jermaine Jackson, 34, his girlfriend Ashley Pettiford, 31 and wounded her 5-year-old son inside a parked vehicle.
"It's just a heavy day just knowing that, you know, less than 100 yards from my back door somebody lost their life," Casey said.
It's a tragedy that Casey has had a hard time in explaining to his four children.
"To deal with the added trauma of losing your parent in a violent way, like that's something that no person in his world should ever have to experience," Casey said.
But two months into 2022, violence is tearing families apart in KCMO at the same pace it has in recent years.
"We’re never going to arrest our way out of this, not flooding the streets with more police officers," Branden Mims, the chief operating officer of Ad Hoc Group Against Crime said. "We need a from the ground up response, we need to tackle poverty, we need some societal changes that have created these environments where violence thrives."
It's what the Hope Center not far from Monday morning's crime scene aims to do.
"We try to support the families and the people that are that are trying to do a good job raising their kids, and for those who are struggling to do so, we try to step in and help them as well," Casey said.
Casey has been a part of it for the last two years and believes it continues to bring change to his community.
"You know today's not a day where I feel safe, or I feel safe for my kids," Casey said. "But you know, I do think that folks have to stay committed to making the neighborhood better."
Anyone with information is asked to call the KC Crimestopppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). All tips are anonymous and those that lead to an arrest can get you up to a $25,000 reward.
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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.
