KSHB 41 reporter La’Nita Brooks covers stories providing solutions and offering discussions on topics of crime and violence. Share your story idea with La’Nita.
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The Kauffman Cares after-school program gathered students, survivors and community organizations Saturday to honor young lives lost to violence — including a former student killed in 2024.
Early Saturday morning, an adult male was shot and killed near East 4th Street and Holmes Street in Kansas City. It marked the city's 41st homicide of the year. So far this year, 10% of homicide victims have been minors.
Kourtney Freeman was one of those young lives cut short. On April 10, 2024, Re'Mori Roath, who was 16 at the time, fired gunshots into a home near East 33rd Street and Flora Avenue, striking Kourtney, who was inside. Roath was sentenced to 20 years for second-degree murder.
Lauren Crusoe, a teacher and co-founder of Kauffman Cares, remembered Kourtney as a driven and passionate student.
"She was always one of those kids that wanted to advocate for herself, wanted to advocate for her peers," Crusoe said. "Kourtney was somebody that I truly believed was going to be like a future doctor a future lawyer a future engineer. And that totally got snatched from her for something really senseless."
Saturday's event honored Kourtney and other students lost to violence. It included breakout sessions, a student panel, a survivors panel and a carnival. Sixteen community agencies were present, offering resources and free gun locks.
"We shouldn't want to continue losing kids at 10 or 11 years old," Crusoe said.
For students like Ciron, the event carried personal meaning.
"I feel like I wanted to change our community and talk about violence because I really think it would help me and all of us impacted," Ciron said.
Crusoe said events like Saturday's need to be a frequent city wide occurence.
"It shouldn't be just a once-a-year thing," said Crusoe. "It should be once a month; we're coming together as a community and talking about what's going on. What do we need to change? What do you see that's gotten better? What do you see that's gotten worse?"
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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