KANSAS CITY, Mo – More than 20 bullets tore through a Kansas City, Missouri home on Sunday morning, leaving a 3-year-old boy dead and his family in shock.
Police say it happened around 10:00 a.m. Sunday at the corner of 67th and Walrond. The family says there were several people inside the house when the shots rang out.
“It hurts,” said one woman, who wants to only identify herself as Kelley. She says the little boy’s name was Amorian, or Amori for short. She says he was sleeping in his bed when several rounds were fired into his home.
“He was laying in his bed asleep,” said Kelley. “To wake up to another day with his family and people that love him. We won’t be able to see him again.”
Witnesses say they saw several men running throughout the neighborhood, guns drawn. They say more than 20 shots were fired into the side of Amori’s home, piercing walls and windows. Investigators say the toddler was pronounced dead soon after.
“We have to live with this,” said Kelley. “We have to have a funeral. We have to say our last goodbyes. We have to bury a three year old that didn’t even get to see another day. Didn’t get to graduate high school. Play sports. Nothing. He was three.”
Family says Amori was named after the word “Amor”, meaning love. They say that’s exactly what he spread.
“The first thing he did was come up and hug me. He was full of love,” said cousin Timothy Ross.
But now, the child’s family says senseless gun violence has ended a life full of love, tragically short.
“They can’t hug him no more,” said Ross.
Witnesses say the suspects drove off in a white Cadillac. If you know anything about the shooting please call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-TIPS.
“I pray that this person has a heart and has some sort of remorse for what they’ve done because it’s not fair,” said Kelley.
“There’s no way that we’ve been able to come up with to prevent idiots from riding around in cars with high-powered weapons, shooting indiscriminately into homes and not caring where the bullets go,” Mayor James said.
A Go Fund Me account has been set up to help pay for Amorian’s funeral expenses. Click here if you want to contribute.
On Facebook and Twitter, many in the community expressed their sympathy and distress over another child killed at the hands of an adult. A man who identified himself as Amorian’s grandfather posted the video of his grandson to Facebook.
In January, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters-Baker urged adults in the community to do better about protecting children. This came after the recent deaths of too many area children, such as the ones pictured below: Machole Stewart, 10, killed Oct. 26 inside her KCK home; Jaquail Mansaw, 7-months old, killed Jan. 4 at a KCK home, Damiah White, age, three, Alexis Kane, 14, found dead at a KC water park, Lorenzo Estrada, age two was beaten and died from his injures and Angel Hooper, age six, killed outside a south KC gas station on Oct 17, 2014.
News release from Jean Peters-Baker in January:
“It is our community’s duty to protect them, to look after them. We must secure our weapons, never strike them when angry, get immediate medical care when they are injured, and report, report, report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect. When kids are abused, neglected, in danger, shot, beaten, burned or abused, we should not walk to the police station to help; we should run for help.”
“Failing to protect these children is society’s greatest failing. We must do better.”
What follows is just a partial list of the many recent cases in which child have become victims of violence or neglect:
- Friday, January 16: a 2-year old child is shot inside his south KC home
- Sunday, January 11: 7-year old seriously injured after being struck by gunfire on I-70
- Sunday, January 11: 14-year-old Alexis Kane, was found dead outside a South KC Water Park.
- Friday, January 9: 2-year-old Lorenzo Estrada was beaten and died of his injuries on January 10.
- Thursday, January 8: 7-month-old, J.S., was discovered with burns from injuries occurring earlier in December.
- Wednesday, January 7: 3-year-old T.D. shot inside her KCMO home at 38th and Chestnut.
- Sunday, January 4: 7-month-old Jaquail Mansaw killed inside a KCK home.
- Friday, December 26: 4-year-old boy was struck by gunfire as his home on Hardesty was fired upon.
- Friday, December 12: 2-year-old K.G.K., from Independence, sustained burns.
- Sunday, October 26: 10-year-old Machole Stewart killed inside a KCK home.
- Friday, October 17: 6-year-old Angel Hooper killed outside a South KC gas station.
In addition, we remember 10-year-old Kavyea Curry who was paralyzed from a shooting that also killed his father on Friday, April 19, 2014.
A 5-year-old was also in the car. And we remember Damiah White, just 3, who was found murdered in her home during on Friday, August 23, 2013. Her and her mother’s murder remains unsolved. We await your call. There is no statute of limitations on murder.