KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In April, Elaine McNamara thought she and her four children were moving into their dream home near East 113th and Ruskin Way in southeast Kansas City.
“We really liked it. It was affordable, it was close to the school my special needs child goes to and it was just so perfect and ideal for us,” said McNamara.
However, the frustrated mom said about a month after settling down in their “dream house,” she and her kids started experiencing nightmare after nightmare.
“My children can’t go outside to play because people like to randomly shoot their guns. As a mother I just try to provide for them. I work my butt off and I’m not gonna stay somewhere where their lives are in jeopardy,” a sobbing McNamara told FOX 4’s Robert Townsend on Tuesday.
The single mom said in May she told police someone, whom she believes lives in the neighborhood, intentionally fired three gunshots into her house.
“Those bullets came through the walls of my 8-year-old’s bedroom while he was asleep. Oh my God he jumped out of bed just screaming,” recalled McNamara about her son who has autism.
Just days later, Elaine said drug dealers taunted her 14-year-old son around the same time more bullets sprayed her house, shattering the family’s living room, sending the single mom and her children huddling for their lives.
“Moments before that second shooting happened, we were all sitting in the living room when those bullets hit the wall. I had just put my kids to bed. Thankfully, we were all okay, but as a parent it’s just so scary. It’s one thing if you’re going to shoot, but you need to remember bullets don’t have eyes. It’s just too much and that’s why I knew we had to go,” said McNamara.
On Monday she packed up all their things and left the house on East 113th.
“I just couldn’t stay there any longer where my kids weren’t safe. I just hope our new home will be safer, better for all of us,” said the mom, who’s looking forward to a fresh start.
“It’s just a shame that they had to move out of their home, ” said Tony Peak. Peak is the father of McNamara’s 3-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son.
“I would just tell the idiots who did all the crimes to think about the children. I’m pretty sure they have kids of their own and how would they feel if their kids were the victims being terrorized?” asked a fuming Peak.
