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Kansas City’s Crown Center shopping mall reopened at noon Thursday after a shooting on Wednesday left six people injured.
Police said the six victims of the shooting, most of them in their teens or early 20s, are recovering and their injuries are not yet believed to be life-threatening.
Stephanie Herbig runs Cheeky Bird, a vintage store in the Crown Center that has been open for more than two years. She says the shooting has given Crown Center an eerie feel.
“I think it’s going to force us to be more aware and to be extremely cautious,” Herbig said. “If it doesn’t affect you, I think you’re crazy.”
Herbig closed his store early Wednesday to attend to family business, but said he frequently walked around to talk to other business owners and might have been caught in the crossfire if he had been there. She said she didn’t feel safe walking around anymore.
Herbig believes more follow-up and security is needed at malls, and worries that people will ignore the violence.
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She also said she was disappointed in the response from Crown Center’s owners. Herbig said she and other mall managers received only two messages from Kesigner Hunter & Co., which manages Crown Center, after the shooting. One email said there was an incident and the other email said the store would open at noon.
“I know that some of the people who were in those businesses were hiding and dodging bullets and watching people get shot,” Herbig said. “I think it was OK for us to act that way because there was no harm done to (the management). They need time.”
A spokesperson for Crown Center & Hallmark, which owns the mall, declined a request for comment.
conflict between two groups
Kansas City police shut down a shopping mall after a shooting early Wednesday evening.
Police and emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene around 5:45 p.m. and found two victims on the lower level of the mall, where police believe the shooting occurred.
Four other shooting victims were identified at area hospitals later in the evening. Several people were detained for questioning.
At a press conference Wednesday night, Sgt. Kansas City Police Department spokesman Jake Becchina said witnesses told police an altercation between two groups of teenagers escalated into a shootout, injuring the victim, and causing an attack at the mall. He said he testified that he caused damage to a store on the lower floor.
Becchina added in the statement that two other people in the area who were not involved in the argument responded to the gunshots and opened fire.
Detectives have identified a visitor to the Crown Center and one of the security guards on duty at the time and are cooperating with the investigation, police said.
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Becchina noted that all the victims were in their late teens to early 20s, except for one victim who was around 50 years old. As of Thursday afternoon, KCPD said all victims had recovered and their injuries were not yet considered life-threatening.
Becchina added that the investigation is ongoing as police continue to interview witnesses and collect evidence. Several people were questioned at the scene and some were detained for further questioning.
Police said in a statement that one person was held for 24 hours and released on Thursday pending further investigation.
The mall reopened late Thursday after being closed while police investigated the scene.
Jackson Clemens, who works at Shan Tea near the scene of the shooting, said his manager witnessed the shooting. He wants more reforms that target the roots of gun violence, and he says he still feels the after-effects of the trauma it inflicted on employees and patrons.
“Kansas City has always had these kinds of problems, so I can’t say I’m too surprised that it’s finally making its way here,” Clemens said. “I knew it was just a matter of time.”
Clemens wants workers and patrons to continue to feel safe at the Crown Center and believes this was an isolated incident.
Some experts believe Kansas City already has the tools in place to prevent mass shootings like this one.
Paul Carrillo, deputy director of the Giffords Center for Violence Intervention, said that although gun violence is decreasing in many U.S. cities, there are still too many incidents involving young people with guns.
He said ground-level group interventions, usually aimed at preventing arguments from turning violent, are a proven way to reduce gun violence among youth.
“There are also other factors and actors in the community that contribute to achieving peaceful communities and reducing conflict, such as nonprofit organizations that confront conflict head-on,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo said research conducted in 2022 by the Kansas City-based Giffords Center shows that intervention groups like Aim 4 Peace are effectively helping to curb gun violence despite being understaffed. said that it was done.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, who is in Washington for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, did not mention the shooting in a livestreamed conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday focused on gun violence prevention.
Kansas City police are asking any witnesses who have not spoken to investigators to contact the department with information about the shooting.
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