KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Witnesses say they heard more than a dozen gunshots fired overnight at an apartment complex on Birch Drive in the Argentine neighborhood in KCK.
“As soon as we got through the threshold of our door we heard the gunshots,” Ron Harris said, a neighbor in the complex.
The shooting killed a 17-year-old boy and injured two other teens.
Neighbors say they’re not surprised by what happened.
The incident happened only a few blocks away from the police south patrol station. Neighbors say gunfire has become all too common.
“We see all the time kids out here with weapons, shooting them into the woods over here,” Harris said. “Or just testing them out to see what these guns can do. Unfortunately, they found out what guns can do.”
Harris says 17-year-old Donny Sherman was the most respectful kid on the block, someone he thought would be the least likely to have his life cut short by a bullet.
But that’s exactly what happened.
“Bullets do not have a name to it,” Lashandla Reed said, the victim’s cousin. “You can go at any time. People are out here, young kids, they’ve got guns. I don`t understand.”
Sherman is survived by a young son, and friends and family say he was a great father. A friend who wants to be known only as “Cash” claims Sherman didn’t fight with anybody.
“Basically he was a down to earth person, stayed to himself didn’t bother nobody,” Cash said. “Just a people person who loved kids.”
KCK police say another boy hit by gunfire will survive his injuries. Officers say a third teen also received treatment at the hospital as a result of the incident.
“I feel terrible because I know it was more than likely at the hand of another juvenile,” Harris said. “Something should be done about these juveniles being able to purchase and somehow get a hold of these military assault weapons.”
Harris said so many shots were fired in rapid fire succession that he no longer feels safe and is moving his family out of the apartments.
Anyone with information about the homicide should call the TIPS hotline at 816-474-8477. In KCK there’s a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.