Two people were killed in a parking lot in Kansas City’s Power & Light District on Sunday, just days after Mayor Quinton Lucas called for private businesses to step up security there.
In yet another violent weekend, a total of three people were killed across Kansas City, pushing the city’s homicide total so far this year to 105, compared to 101 at this time last year, according to Kansas City Police crime data.
Lucas responded to the spate of shootings, reiterating his call for passage of a city ordinance he introduced last week that would require owners of surface parking lots in the city’s entertainment districts to get a permit from the police department. Owners would have to show proof of $1 million in insurance, keep the area clean, undergo yearly inspections and provide fences, security lighting and surveillance cameras.
The districts include Central Business District area, 18th & Vine, the Country Club Plaza, Westport and the Crossroads.
Lucas posted on social media that a shooting in the same lot at 13th and Grand several weeks ago caused him to send an email to “private interests” in mid-July. It called on businesses to step up because KCPD does not have the authority to take action with a group that is just “hanging out,” Lucas said, and keeping people out of the lots is the best “preventative tool.”
“KCPD is not set up to handle private security for such lots where a gate and charging for parking could address 90 percent of that concern,” Lucas wrote. “That change at the 13th and Grand lot can and should happen immediately.”
The 13th and Grand lot is owned by Copaken Brooks, a commercial real estate firm. Annemijn Steele, a Copaken senior vice president, called the shootings “tragic” and said the company was deeply concerned. Safety remains the company’s top priority, Steele said in a statement.
“We are actively working with city leaders, law enforcement, and local stakeholders to explore additional resources and solutions to ensure downtown continues to be a safe and welcoming place for everyone,” the statement said.
When police responded to 13th and Grand around 4 a.m. Sunday, they found four people shot, including one man who was pronounced dead at the scene and another who died later at a hospital. A juvenile was found with critical injures and a woman had non-life-threatening injures, said Sgt. Philip DiMartino, a KCPD spokesman.
A third adult was killed at East Sixth Avenue and Park Avenue, just off Independence Avenue near Pendleton Heights, around 7 p.m. Sunday, police said.
