A bus full of Southwest High School football players got shot up on Friday night after their football game. No one got hurt in the incident, but the bus had five bullet holes in it.
And some adults are now questioning why parents weren’t notified and why a police report wasn’t filed until two days after the incident.
Days later, the students are still rattled.
“They’re fearful,” said John Michael Clifton, pastor at Wornall Road Baptist Church in Kansas City. “They’re angry, they’re panicked. They look over their shoulder when they hear a loud noise.”
Clifton is a big supporter of the southwest football team and believes the players to be good kids.
“The night after their bus got shot up the majority of them showed up here the next day to take their ACT,” Clifton said.
According to the police report, five bullets hit the school bus as it was leaving the parking lot at the southeast football field. The bus fled the scene immediately. Police said they received a call about shots fired on Friday, but when officers arrived no one was there.
The football coach filed the police report on Sunday, two days after the incident. The coach told police he waited to file the report because he thought the school principal would.
“There should have been something that happened before Sunday or Monday seeing that the game happens Friday night,” said Michael Brooks who represents the Concerned Clergy Coalition.
Brooks thinks the district response should have been immediate. He’s also concerned that no crisis counselors were brought in to talk to students until Wednesday.
“It’s a bad message to send to the kids that something that bad can happen and nobody says anything,” he said. “What message does that send to the kids as far as their well being?”
Pastor Clifton agrees.
“Even just by being in the news and newspaper it sends a positive message to the kids that we do care,” he said. “This shouldn’t happen, and we don’t want it to happen.”
Southwest’s final football game is against Pembroke on Friday, Oct. 28. It was supposed to be at that same field where the shooting took place, but on Thursday Pembroke offered to move the game to their field for free. The district was originally reluctant, but a spokesperson confirmed late Thursday that the game will be played at Pembroke.
