RAYMORE, Mo. — No one will face charges after bullets struck two homes in Raymore last month. The homes were shot in Ward Park Place subdivision near Ward Park, a playground which was also struck by a stray bullet in 2015.
Scott Wright was standing right next to the door to his deck in June when he heard glass shattering around him at his Sierra Drive home.
“It came through the window, hit the hardwood floor here and from there bounced up and hit the corner of the wall here,” Wright pointed out.
According to a police report, the bullet was from a SKS 7.62 x 39mm rifle. His wife Christina knew where the shooting was likely coming from, and who was in the crossfire. So she started running toward the gunfire and the playground.
“My grandson was on top of the slide and I said ‘you guys it’s not fireworks, it’s gun shots,’” Christina Wright said.
Police were called to the Ward Park Place subdivision and determined the Wright home wasn’t the only one hit by rifle fire, so was a house two blocks farther away.
The shooters were doing target practice 2,500 feet away on the other side of woods against a berm. The city prosecutor said no charges would be filed, because city ordinance says it is legal to shoot on agricultural land at targets as long as it’s not within 150 yards of a street, home or business.
“I was very surprised everything was legal and there was nothing that could be done, and it just happens like there’s no responsibility or care,” Scott Wright said.
It’s not the first time police have been called to the subdivision, with the city park and team practice fields along the wooded firing line. Another bullet was determined to have come from nearby property in Cass County.
“It came across the back of the park here and bounced off next to a mom and her son who were sitting here,” HOA President Darin Carter said.
So the HOA President is working with the police chief and city manager to try to change things.
A special HOA meeting has been called for Thursday at Raymore City Hall at 6:30 p.m. to discuss firearm safety and recent property damage.
“It’s a safety issue for us. If people are shooting and there are residences and things that might be in the line of fire of that shooting we need to figure out a way to keep that from happening,” Police Chief Jan Zimmerman said.
“That’s what everyone is wondering is it going to take somebody getting hurt, or possibly killed in order for a simple city ordinance to change?” Wright said.
Chief Zimmerman said the Cass County Sheriff and Cass County Commissioners have also been invited to Thursday night’s meeting at City Hall since the area sits at the edge of city limits. She said surrounding property owners outside the subdivision also were given flyers.
However, when the owner of the property where the gunfire was coming from was reached, he said he knew nothing about the meeting.