WYANDOTTE COUNTY, Ks — Victims of gun violence and their families may now qualify for a myriad of immediate assistance following a crime.
Wyandotte County secured the $687,000 Federal Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program Grant.
The two-year grant will aid victims and witnesses of crime with needs like transportation to medical appointments, hospital co-pays, as well as emergency services such as rental assistance, relocation to immediate housing, and repair of damage to property.
“After a person’s door gets kicked in, that family still has to go back in there and live after the investigation is done for the night,” said Mark Dupree, the Wyandotte County District Attorney.
Any shooting or victimization that occurred from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2026, will be eligible to apply.
People can call the Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office or the AdHoc Group Against Crime to be sent an application.
The case does not have to have been charged in the DA’s office.
From there, victim advocates will do an assessment on the damage to see if it qualifies for assistance.
The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office has requested for the Unified Government to fund four additional victim advocates at the DA.
"For far too long, many victims in our community have not received the assistance, the support, or the help that is necessary. And quite frankly, that is statutorily mandated by our Kansas Victims Bill of Rights," Dupree said. "We’re trying to help fix windows, trying to help fix doors, and help put lives back together. And it affects your neighbor, your cousin, your family, and, prayerfully, not you."
It is a program Gwen Lomax says she wishes she had had when her 17-year-old grandson was shot inside their home.
Six months have come and gone, but the sighs and sounds of bullets piercing through her home still haunts her to this day.
"I never want to go through that again," Lomax said. “The marks on the floor and the marks on the wall and stuff, that brings it back to you everyday whenever you look at it.”
Mario Lomax was shot back in January while trying to stop his best friend’s cousin from stealing.
Not only did Mario seriously get hurt, but his younger sibling saw the whole thing.
"It’s one trauma after another, you know?" Lomax said. “My granddaughter and grandson get counseling because of what they saw and it’s, it’s never ending. Never ending.”
Lomax says she has not patched the bullet holes because of money.
Through the county’s new program, a contractor will soon fill the holes, filling a need to heal.
"It would have meant everything to me at that time to been able to hand that off to somebody," Lomax said.
—
