KANSAS CITY, Kan. – A 10-year-old girl’s family is in mourning following her heart wrenching and tragic death. Police say Machole Stewart died after someone drove by and shot up her family’s home on Sunday night.
Her sudden death has rocked her family, everyone at her church and lots of people in this community.
“Machole was amazing, just a joyful little kid. She wanted things in life that everybody else wanted,” grandmother Kimberly Blackmon said.
Blackmon fought back tears just thinking about Machole. She was a fifth grader at T.A. Edison Elementary School in KCK. She was also a member of the Gateway High Steppers Drill Team, and the 10-year-old loved to dance with the all-girls praise team at her family’s church, Forest Grove Baptist.
“And she was the best dancer you would ever want to see, she just was too young to leave that way,” Blackmon said.
Police say around 7 p.m. Sunday, a gunman in a SUV drove by Machole’s family’s home at the corner of 15th Street and New Jersey and sprayed the house with multiple bullets and then sped away.
“Just her and her brother and her cousin in the house watching TV and playing games,” Blackmon recalled.
The kids’ fun suddenly ended when Machole was shot in a rear bedroom. She died instantly. Relatives say the girl’s mother wasn’t home and had gone to a grocery store before her child was killed.
“Somebody shot my baby and we got to have justice. We have to have justice for this,” Blackmon said.
Police say right now they’re not sure who the intended target was. Investigators say when the hail of gunfire rang out, the shooter also hit several parked cars and a house. No one else was hurt.
Machole’s dance instructor LaVita Green is among many who are touched by the girl’s death.
“She was just a one of a kind kid. I loved her energy,” Green said. “I am shattered, I loved her so much.”
KPRS radio, Hot 103 Jamz, launched a 12-hour “Call for Justice” and is pleading for any tips into the deadly shooting. Machole’s hurting family, friends and many admirers pray for a break in the case.
“Whoever did this, this was not fair, this was not right, and I hope that justice comes today,” Green said.
Police are asking anyone who knows anything about the shooting to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS. A prayer vigil for Machole will be held at her church Tuesday night at 6:00.
