KANSAS CITY, Mo — Just this year, eight children have been killed in Kansas City, Missouri.
A girl under the age of six is in serious condition at a hospital after she was shot late Thursday night while in a vehicle in KCMO.
“This will stay with her, it will stay with her parents,” said Judy Sherry with Grandparents for Gun Safety. “There has to be a way for people to understand how to resolve conflict without shooting one another.”
Sherry is sad, mad, and scared again after another child in KCMO was injured by gunfire.
Grandparents for Gun Safety is a local non-profit that works to promote education, safety and the need for common ground gun reform, according to their website.
They also work to make gun locks accessible.
As a group of like-minded grandparents, they hope the cycle of violence will not be passed down through generations.
“People forget about the ramifications of gun violence, that it isn’t just the one victim," Sherry said. "Even the one victim and the perpetrator, everybody in the circle feels something and experiences something and I’m convinced that they will never be the same.”
This is why the Child Protection Center intervenes quickly after a traumatic event.
They interview young children, and as those children grow up, they will have the tools to better understand the trauma they experienced.
"Often times, people think that because their kids are so young, that maybe they are immune to what's happening around them, when it's actually the opposite," according to Megan Devers, the lead forensic interviewer at the Child Protection Center. "Kids take in everything that happens around them and they are trying to interpret what that means."
The Child Protection Center has seen an increase in forensic interviews.
Last year, they conducted nearly 1,000. Prior to that, they were averaging 800 interviews.
Devers said the work will be two-fold for the girl shot Thursday night.
“It also adds a layer to her, because now she’s processing her own trauma as a victim," Devers said. "She also has trauma to process as someone who’s witnessed this now. And so making sure that everyone is doing what they need to do to get resources to her and her family so they can all help process together is really important."
Sherry firmly believes having the education and the laws in place could save a life.
“She may recover physically, but I don’t believe she will ever recover from this incident,” said Sherry.
