KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, councilwoman Katheryn Shields says Westport is a great entertainment district, but it’s been significantly impacted by gun violence in recent weeks and even years.
“In college and in law school, we all went to Westport and we never even worried about any kind of gun violence,“ she said. “Now, that’s not the case.”
Cellphone video from witnesses show violence spilling out to the streets that started inside the Ale House bar.
At least two people who were face down on the asphalt were seen not moving.
Witnesses claim they heard 30 to 50 gunshots.
“I heard gunshots, I thought two, three or four and then it would stop, but it didn’t stop,” one person told KSHB 41 News. “There were people in the back alley here, the girls were screaming, 'This is not stopping.' And it just kept going.”
Shields works with Westport businesses to address safety in monthly meetings.
“I think we’ve done what we can do," she said. "If anyone has ideas of what we can do, I’m certainly open to them, but I don’t know what else we can do."
Shield says now it comes down to gun laws.
“The control has been taken away from the local jurisdictions, so we have to look to our state government," Shields said. "They are not responsive currently on these issues and that’s why I go back to the voters."
Witnesses who withheld their names say the Sunday night shooting night was scary, saying the amount of gunfire seemed to last for minutes.
In Broadcastify audio, law enforcement could be heard asking for help for multiple times.
The Missouri Highway Patrol said on Monday that a security guard was among those shot.
“I think we have to look at where the control is going,” Shields said. “As far as the city having a silver bullet or magic bullet to solve this, we don’t, and any control we might have has been legislated away from us by our colleagues in Jefferson City.”
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