NewsLocal News

Actions

First Friday changes take effect in September after deadly shooting

First Friday changes food trucks
Posted at 10:29 PM, Sep 06, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-06 23:29:33-04

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One month after tragedy struck during a First Friday event in Kansas City's Crossroads Arts District, hundreds of people came to celebrate in an united front and remember 25-year-old Erin Langhofer, who was killed while attending the monthly event.

“The hearts are still tender at the Church of the Resurrection,” said head pastor Adam Hamilton.

To kick off First Friday in September, the Church of the Resurrection Downtown hosted a family friendly night its in parking lot.

“We’re here to say, ‘let’s push back the darkness, let’s push back the violence,'” Hamilton said.

This month, the Crossroads Community Association decided to go back to its beginnings and concentrate on art.

After losing liability insurance, organizers implemented changes to the event, which included including keeping all roads open and prohibiting street vendors from setting up on sidewalks.

Earlier this week, food truck vendors decided to move their trucks east along 18th Street.

Despite the move and his fear that crowds would not come down, Adrian Gardner, owner of Show Me Street Food, said business Friday was still doing well.

“It’s working out better than anyone could have expected,” he said.

Last month, a fight broke out in the Crossroads during the First Friday event and shots were fired. Langhofer was struck by a stray bullet as she waited at a food truck.

“She was so vibrant, so alive, so happy, so cheerful,” said Joan Doughtery, director of Volunteer and Community Support at Rose Brooks Center, where Langhofer worked.

Rose Brooks Center set up a booth at the church on Friday in an effort to recruit volunteers in honor of Langhofer.

“If we can turn a really negative thing into a positive thing, and to continue the work that she really was doing with Rose Brooks Center, what it does is it will heal,” Doughtery said.

Kansas City police arrested 18-year-old Deon’te Copkney and prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder in connection with Langhofer's death.

“It’s easy to become complacent. There’s another shooting, there’s another act of violence going on. People get use to that as opposed to saying that isn’t who we are,” Hamilton said. “The only way you really combat that is through kindness, mercy, and love.”