KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Dan Class’ wife and 13-year-old daughter were shot in their Northland home, and weeks later, he tries to understand what happened and why.
Daughter Reagan and wife Michelle Class were shot at point blank range two weeks ago. The shooter remains on the run.
In an exclusive interview, Dan Class explains why his wife and daughter are innocent victims and describes the horror he felt knowing he says his own neighbors could be involved in a plot to kill them.
“She said ‘your wife’s been shot. What? She’s been shot you need to get here quick.’ I just threw the phone down and ran,” said Class.
When Dan Class drove to his home, he found an active crime scene. Police wouldn’t let him inside. He stopped, looked around, heart racing he spotted his wife.
“At the point the reality first set in. I saw the wound on her arm; it was horrific. It was worse than I had anticipated,” Class said.
Michelle was rushed off in an ambulance. Both of his young daughters, Reagan and Maddy, were nowhere to be found.
“The police came to me and said ‘you need to go to the hospital right now,’” he recalled.
A friend drove Dan to the emergency room and when he got there, doctors told Dan that Michelle had been shot, she was in surgery. His daughter Maddy was unharmed but 13-year-old Reagan wasn’t going to make it.
“To hear somebody say that about your child; absolutely devastating. I was on the ground, crying, completely broke down,” he said.
But hours after surgery, the girl Dan lovingly calls his miracle, survived.
“Reagan was laying there, I just bent down and whispered, ‘I love you sweetie. I love you sweetie,’” said Class.
At Reagan’s bed side, Dan stared at the sketch of the man police say ran into his home and shot Michelle and Reagan at point blank range.
“We’ve tried to figure out why somebody would do this. Why anybody would do this. A stranger from out of town, a neighbor two doors down?” said a puzzled Class.
Teenage neighbors, just a few houses down, have been questioned. The gun police say was used to shoot Reagan and Michelle, recovered inside the teen’s home.
“Do those teenagers in that house have any connection to your family?” FOX 4’s Megan Brilley asked.
“I have no idea who they are. I don’t know what they look like. I don’t know any of their names. I don’t know them at all,” Class said.
Police have not named the 19-year-old neighbor to whom the gun belonged a suspect.
Dan has been racking his brain, staring into the eyes of the sketch of the suspect who tried to kill his family, in a house they can no longer call a home, and a neighborhood they no longer feel safe in.
“I want to know what possible reason he had for shooting my daughter and my wife. I want to know that before he’s punished and he cannot be punished enough,” he said.
Dan says his wife Michelle is doing much better, she’s talking and is stable. Reagan, is still in critical condition. She’s not awake but has wiggled her toes and squeezed Dan’s hand. Doctors say it’s hard to tell what her future holds, but they say it’s possible she could make a full recovery.
