KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A birthday celebration erupted in gunfire, leaving one person dead and four others injured after a drive-by shooting Saturday in the popular district of Westport.
On Sunday, the Jackson County prosecutor's office charged 25-year-old Devon Carter, of Kansas City, Kansas, with unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.
The office said surveillance video showed Carter driving the white SUV where police say gun shots were coming from. The probable cause also reported that another individual was inside Carter's vehicle.
According to prosecutors, Carter told police 30 friends and family members were at a club for his birthday.
He said a fight happened with another group, which started the gunfire after they left the club, according to documents.
Altogether, police recovered 95 shell casings around the scene.
The group, Ad Hoc Against Crime helps Westport security between April and October when security checkpoints are installed. Members are frustrated to see another deadly shooting in the district.
Branden Mims, director of crisis intervention for Ad Hoc Against Crime, said it is “disheartening” because of the amount of work they have done in Westport.
“But we understand that it happens, and we are even more committed to trying to prevent it like we have the last three years," Mims said.
The added security, according to Mims, has cut down the number of shootings to zero in the security zone. But this latest one would have been outside of it.
"Random is the enemy of everything, right,” Mims said. “And I just want to say that we want to make sure that we don't forget the work that we've been doing there for the last two years and working hard to prevent something like this from happening.”
It's a district once again on high alert as people work figure out how to put an end to the shootings.
"It has to stop,” Mims said. “Cooler heads must prevail, and we've got to find new ways of resolving conflict that doesn't equal to deadly issues and deadly shootings.”
Police and the prosecutor's office are not saying if more people are involved, or how many guns were used.
Carter is being held on $200,000 cash-only bond.
