KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Neighbors are devastated to hear about a homicide that happened early Thursday morning, but they also wanted people to know there’s still love in the neighborhood, even amid tragedy.
The double homicide, which is now being investigated as a domestic violence incident, was the result of a quadruple shooting, where two juveniles and two adults were shot.
“It’s unnerving," said Alvin Kidd, a neighbor who lives across the street from the house where the incident occurred. "It’s a terrible thing to see something like that, to see your neighbors go down in this kind of way."
Kidd has been living in the neighborhood for the past decade and says the violence has only increased.
“It was a lot better neighborhood when I got here,” Kidd said. “Now, it’s starting to turn. But we got good people here.”
Julia Caldwell considers herself one of those people, or at least tries to be.
“I don’t want to meddle with nobody, but if I can help somebody, I will,” Caldwell said.
She’s been living in the neighborhood for a decade as well, just a street over from where the shooting happened.
Caldwell says she hears gunshots often, but it was her dog who woke her up to Thursday morning’s.
"It's just useless, senseless,” Caldwell said. “Really senseless."
At age 82, Caldwell has multiple generations of youth in her family, including nine grandchildren.
She said she’s grateful none of them have gotten involved with guns, but she also wants to be a resource to other children in the neighborhood.
“If they would talk to me, I would tell them that it’s a better way, and that is not the way,” Caldwell said. “You should be able to solve your misunderstandings or difference between talking."
Jill Buford with Mother’s United agrees.
Not only is she the president of the organization, but she’s been a community activist for decades.
"It's not OK to take a gun and kill somebody," Buford said.
Over the years, she’s noticed something.
“I think we need to work together on finding another solution, I really do,” Buford said. “Because it's just not working.”
Buford believes there needs to be more collaboration and communication between community organizations like hers, school districts and families. Kidd agrees.
“[We should] be able to talk to our children, sit them down at a table,” Kidd said. “Let’s have dinner, let’s talk about things, how they should be."
As a mother, Felicia McDaniel is particularly interested in seeing children live long, prosperous lives.
McDaniel's children were top of mind after Thursday morning’s shooting, which happened a couple houses down from hers.
“A life being lost in general is very heartbreaking, but to know that there are kids impacted is really sad,” McDaniel said. “To hear the gunshots and know that obviously someone got shot, yeah, it's just heartbreaking in general to think of another life lost.”
These neighbors are calling for change, but they say it starts with getting more invested, not detached.
“There’s no love in this community, and I feel that there should be,” Buford said. “We all need to be working together.”
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