A six-year-old boy was left fighting for his life in a Kansas City hospital after he was struck by a bullet while playing outside on a sunny evening.
Home surveillance video obtained by FOX4 shows children throwing a basketball and shouting happily on a block near Central High School on Wednesday around 7 p.m.
But their screams turned to cries of fear as a barrage of gunfire rang out. Parents were seen reaching for their children as they scattered, and a little girl was seen hoisting a toddler into her arms before running into her home.
The six-year-old boy was knocked off his bicycle by a stray bullet and taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition. Police say he is now clinging to life.
Video taken from a different angle shows the aftermath of the shooting, with neighbors gathering as the little boy is loaded into the back of an ambulance.
A six-year-old boy was left in critical condition at a Kansas City hospital Wednesday evening after being struck by a bullet
Video shows children playing outside when suddenly an explosion of gunfire rings out, causing everyone to scatter
Kansas City police say the little boy was knocked off his bicycle by a bullet and was lying on the sidewalk when they arrived
Kansas City Police Department officers were already in the area when gunshots rang out. When they arrived, the six-year-old was lying on the sidewalk.
The little boy is the third child shot in the area in eight days. Earlier this month, both an 11-year-old and a five-year-old were killed in separate shootings.
Kourtney Freeman was sitting in her home near East 33rd Street and Flora Avenue when the bullets flew on April 10.
She was unconscious when she was carried to the front yard with a trail of blood and eventually succumbed to her injuries.
Kourtney, a fifth-year student at Ewing Marion Kauffman School, died a month before her 12th birthday.
On April 16, police were called to a home on East 51st Street around 10:30 p.m. for reports of gunshots. The call was upgraded to a shooting when officers responded.
When they arrived on scene, they were told that five-year-old Mari Scott was being taken to a hospital by a family member. However, he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the shooting was “accidental” or “self-inflicted” after the boy obtained a firearm in the home.
A video taken by a neighbor shows the little boy being loaded into the back of an ambulance
The six-year-old was the third child shot in just eight days. Last week, 11-year-old Kourtney Freeman was shot dead in her home
Kourtney (left) died a month before her twelfth birthday. About a week later, on April 16, five-year-old Mari Scott fatally shot herself in a home in Kansas City
The wave of gun violence has left locals frustrated.
‘It’s terrible. When I just found out he was six years old and all these people outside, leaving a little kid outside, that’s bad,” neighbor Roniesha Ford told FOX 4.
“They know their kids have guns; they know their children carry guns. If you know your children are doing things to people here, you have to stop all the children before they are all children.’
Kansas City recorded 182 homicides at the end of 2023, making it a record year. Ten percent of the victims were between zero and seventeen years old.
Wednesday’s shooting follows the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs parade in February that claimed the life of radio host Lisa Lopez-Galvan. About 21 people were injured, 11 of whom were children.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas spoke with members of the media. “I mean, that’s what happens with guns,” he said bluntly.
‘We had security in all kinds of places, eyes on buildings and beyond. And there is still a risk to people. And I think this is something that all of us as parents, who are regular people living every day, have to decide what we want to do about it.
“Parades, rallies, schools, movies, it seems like almost nothing is safe,” he continued.
The wave of gun violence follows the mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs parade in February, which left one person dead and nearly a dozen children injured.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in comments after the shooting: ‘That’s what happens with guns’
Local advocacy groups are working with city leaders to combat gun violence. 2023 was Kansas City’s deadliest year, with 182 homicides recorded
Lucas later appeared at a rally organized by the Kansas City chapter of Mothers Demand Action, where he again condemned the violence.
“In the past year we’ve had shootings at Oak Park Mall, Independence Center, Crown Center, outside Union Station,” he said. ‘We can’t keep living like this.
“I don’t want us to say in 20 years, ‘We don’t have parades anymore because of x or y things.’ I don’t want us to look over our shoulders.
‘We have to be somewhere, go somewhere, live somewhere. That’s why I think you see so many people saying: enough is enough.’
Advocacy groups are working with local leaders as they fight for stricter gun control.
On Friday, Deputy Mayor Ryana Parks-Shaw hosted the second part of a public safety symposium focused on combating gun violence. The first part took place in March.
“As we start our breakout sessions this afternoon, part of what we’ll ask is, ‘How do we know we’re successful, what are the things we need to build our metric, our dashboard?’ Parks- Shaw told KSHB.
The dashboard will be available online and will be a way for groups and members of the public to track their progress.
“I want the public to hold themselves accountable, get involved and play their part because there is a role we can all play in this,” Parks-Shaw said.