KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers Kansas City, Missouri. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
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Days after a man was charged with murdering his neighbor in the Northland, elected officials in Kansas City are considering whether the city's response to years of complaints was appropriate.
Jeffrey King is charged with first-degree murder in the Monday murder of Chris Wells.
KSHB 41 In-Depth Reporter Alyssa Jackson has been following the murder investigation this week and the city's response that followed.
While neighbors who live in Maplewood Estates are grieving, many expressed they feel city leadership failed to take action before the shooting to all the requests for help that went unanswered for years.
Second District Councilman Wes Rogers started working with the neighborhood HOA before the shooting.
He knocked on King's door a couple of weeks ago, but King didn't answer.
Councilman Rogers attended Tuesday's vigil for Wells. The councilman also received many messages from neighbors about the situation, including Wells before he was killed.
"You have a 41-year-old man who was murdered and left behind a wife and four kids," Rogers said.
Jackson obtained a list of 51 complaints to the city's 311 line that accused King of property violations, abandoning vehicles and blocking mailboxes.
On Thursday, Councilman Rogers introduced Ordinance No. 260063, which would make parking in front of mailboxes illegal in Kansas City.
He said: "They told the city this guy was a bully, he was a menace and now something terrible happened like a lot of them warned would happen."
Jackson showed Councilman Rogers how long it took complaints submitted to 311 to get resolved.
Some issues were resolved in a day — others took 20 days or 200 days to address.
"311 is not as efficient as it should be," Rogers said. "I think we know this and unfortunately we're seeing firsthand what inefficiencies can lead to."
In between city meetings, Jackson had a brief opportunity to ask Mayor Quinton Lucas about the concerns from the neighborhood.
She asked: "Can you talk about whether you think the city can do better in these situations?"
The mayor responded: "Condolences to Mr. Wells, his family and everyone who knew him. That’s a terrible tragedy allegedly committed by someone who is themselves, the one, if adjudicated guilty, would be responsible for this. That’s step one. I don’t want to absolve the alleged murderer of Chris Wells responsibility for what he has potentially committed."
Lucas said: "The story isn’t 311 or 911 or what have you — the problem is in some situations you may need both and I don’t know the extent of all code enforcement violations alleged. That’s why I’m asking for information from the chief of police and the city manager."
Councilman Rogers said he will be involved in a meeting with the neighborhood HOA next week.
The original meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed.
Some viewers expressed frustration to KSHB 41 about how the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department has handled issues with the defendant.
The police department referred us back to the Clay County Prosecutor's Office and would not answer those questions.
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