KANSAS CITY, Mo — A 6-year-old boy shot Wednesday night near East 33rd Street and Bales Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri, is the third child shooting victim in the last week in Kansas City, Missouri.
The child remained in critical condition Thursday night.
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Jada Williamson, a teenager from the neighborhood where the shooting happened, said this is not something a child or anyone should get used to.
"I just remember them pulling him off the bike, trying to get him to breathe," Williamson said. "It was like he was trying to move his body, but it wouldn't move."
Williamson's family and neighborhood children were outside that night and she watched the scene change in an instant.
"They're fighting, but they don't even know why they're fighting," she said. "They're shooting guns, but they don't even know who they're shooting at."
Williamson said children are reluctant to play outside after the shooting.
"All they're saying is, 'We want to play basketball,' but it's not safe,'" she said.
Pat Clarke, a well-known community advocate, was in the neighborhood Thursday where the shooting occurred just like he was after the death of 11-year-old Kourtney Freeman.
Gunfire killed Freeman last week while she was inside her home.
"Everyone wants to do a rally, a prayer vigil," Clarke said. "I'm trying to figure out which one of those are working."
In the aftermath of the three children shot in the past week, many people asked, 'What's it going to take for the violence to stop?'"
"I said it the other day," Clarke said. "It's our fault when we know the lives our children are leading. I'm talking about the ones committing the crimes, not the casualty behind it."
Clarke wants to know what happens when violence takes another young life.
"Three babies in less than a week, week-and-a half," he said. "Whatever it is, is anyone concerned or worried about who the next one is going to be?"
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