Westport business owners fed up with crime

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — FOX4 spoke to two business owners on Westport Road, just east of Broadway where four men and a teen were shot Wednesday around 8 p.m.

The bullets shot out some glass at POP! Vintage Furniture & Accessories on the north side of Westport Road, but another business owner on the south side of the street had workers inside at the time of the shooting.

That business owner is Erin Fedor-Motes of Got Hair Midtown. Thursday, she shared security camera footage with FOX4 of one of her stylists and his client running to take cover from the shooting that took place right next to her business.

“Get down. Come here. Come here,” you can hear being said in the security camera footage.

Fedor-Motes says two groups of people started fighting on a floor above her hair salon. She was animated in her interview with FOX4, swearing a number of times.

“The owner himself is a nice guy,” she said, talking about the owner of the business where she believes Wednesday’s shooting took place. “He apologized last night after it happened. He said, ‘I’m sure you won’t be seeing me again after this,’ and honestly, I hope to *** that’s true because I can’t keep operating my business like this.”

Kansas City Police Department Sergeant Phil DiMartino says there was an argument between several individuals that led to the shots being fired.

“I know you all have got your hands full. I’m in Midtown. I’m in Hyde Park. I hear the sirens every single night. I hear all the *** that goes down. I see all the crazy *** that goes down. I own a business in Midtown. I know you guys have your hands full… do something,” Fedor-Motes said when asked if there was anything she wanted to say to KCPD Chief Stacey Graves.

Thursday afternoon just happened to be the day where the city was unveiling KC United for Public Safety, a coalition of community organizations that will try to address the root causes of violence.

KCPD, the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, and KC Common Good are supporting it, along with the city. FOX4 tried asking Graves specifically about the Westport shooting from the night before, but Mayor Quinton Lucas was at the podium at the time of the question.

“We’re not getting into that today for you. Go ahead with another,” Lucas responded to FOX4. “You’ve got a media officer if you have questions about individual incidents.”

FOX4 wasn’t able to interview Graves after the news conference.

“We are working with our business owners to make sure that they get the extra patrol that they need,” Graves said in reference to a question about general crime concerns. “We also offer at each patrol division station, we have a community crime meeting, and that is KCPD hosted where we share crime data and also discuss with what people in the community that we serve within the boundaries of whatever patrol division that’s taking place those specific crime issues, and that’s the embodiment of community policing, where you have the community and you have police working together to solve problems.”

Another Westport business owner willing to talk to FOX4 Thursday said she tries to leave work by 6 p.m. because she doesn’t want to be in the neighborhood at night.

“It doesn’t feel great to base your hours on crime, but I think that’s kind of the reality of our situation,” Gilded Chaos Vintage Owner Lindsey Kupper said in an interview with FOX4. “This isn’t a Westport thing. This is a Kansas City thing. This is a Kansas City problem for crime.”

“The incident took place outside the Westport CID and outside the Westport Entertainment District,” Westport Regional Business League Spokeswoman Stacey McBride said in a statement to FOX4 Thursday. “Therefore, it’s outside the Westport Public Safety jurisdiction, and any security for that area would be managed by another entity.”

DiMartino adds no one is in custody in relation to Wednesday’s incident. The five victims are in stable condition. If you have any information, you can leave an anonymous tip with KC Crime Stoppers at (816) 474-8477.

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