Three-year-old dies after 8-story fall from window at Independence apartment building

A 3-year-old boy has died after falling about eight stories out of an apartment window at an Independence high-rise, police announced Monday afternoon.

The child fell from the window some time before 10:05 a.m. at Independence Towers, 728 N. Jennings Road, according to Battalion Chief Eric Michel of the Independence Fire Department.

Firefighters found the child lying in the grass outside the building, unconscious but breathing, Michel said. The boy was was rushed to a local hospital and immediately transferred to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

“This is a heart-wrenching call,” for firefighters, Michel said. “This is something that you take home with you, this is something that will stay with them for the rest of their careers, along with a lot of other things.”

In a news conference Monday afternoon, Independence police said there were people in the apartment at the time of the fall, but police did not immediately know how many.

Officer Kelley Rupert, a spokeswoman for the Independence Police Department, declined to characterize the investigation as criminal.

“We’re still trying to figure out what happened this morning,” Rupert said.

Elliot West, a longtime resident of the building, on Monday said “everyone” in the building had their windows open because the central air conditioning at the building has not been working the whole summer.

The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for the Kansas City metro Monday, with temperatures expected to climb above 100 degrees this week.

“The building is technically supposed to have a central AC unit run off of a chiller, that chiller is not working,” West said. “They really haven’t had anyone up there to fix it, as much as they’d like to claim that they have.”

West said she did not know the family whose child was injured, but said residents planned to find a way to support them.

“That kid is way too young to lose his or her life, she said.”

Trigild Inc., the company managing the property, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, after the child fell, the City of Independence canceled an interview that Independence Community Development Director Tom Scannell had scheduled with The Star to talk about problems at Independence Towers.

City spokesperson Rebecca Gannon said Scannell was in meetings responding to the child’s fall. Gannon said several parties have reached out to Trigild today and over the past few weeks and the company should be aware of the situation.

Problems at Independence Towers

A lack of air conditioning was among a series of problems that have recently plagued the 122-unit apartment building.

Earlier this year, residents joined KC Tenants, a tenant union, to complain of cockroaches, mice and other pests. They also said that during the summer, there is frequently no air conditioning and in the winter, no heat.

In previous interviews with The Star, tenant have described poor living conditions in the building, which until this spring was managed by Tango Management, which is owned by FTW Investments, a company that managed a complex The Star reported on in January 2023 for leaving tenants for days without heat in the winter.

“When the property changes hands, over and over, the process for getting things fixed starts all over again. This property seems to change hands every year to a year and a half,” said Michel, the Independence fire department battalion chief. “Every time we gain traction with codes enforcement, it seems like we’re back at square one as soon as the sale’s done.”

A Jackson County judge in May appointed Trigild Inc. as receiver of the property, after FTW Investment allegedly failed to pay back Fannie Mae for the loan and maintaining the building according to the loan agreement.

An arson fire in June displaced 27 residents across three floors of the apartment building. Jackson County prosecutors charged 22-year-old Destiny R. Kley with first-degree arson. She remains in Jackson County jail on $50,000 bond.

Gannon, the city spokeswoman, said the child’s death highlights the city’s ongoing efforts to work with the owners of Independence Towers, 728 N. Jennings Road Partners, LLC.

Gannon said there have been no landlord-tenant complaints filed for the building.

“The City does have the power to deem the entire building dangerous and that would displace every resident. From our recent conversations with tenants, they don’t want to be displaced,” she said.

“So the City is working on various solutions that keep people housed and improve their living situation and we have these conversations daily.”

Previous incident in KC

Last November another child, 5-year-old Grayson O’Conner, died when he fell 17 stories from a downtown Kansas City high-rise apartment.

A grand jury indicted his mother, 28-year-old Corrinne O’Connor, on one felony count of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child , leading to the death of her son.

O’Connor allegedly removed safety devices from the window of her apartment that would have prevented the window from opening more than a few inches, according to an eviction petition from the apartment building.

Neighbors said the household was often low on food and Grayson was frequently unsupervised. He sometimes was seen wandering the building or heard banging on the door of his apartment when he was left by himself. They say Missouri’s Department of Social Services was aware of problems at his home.

O’Connor’s jury trial has been set for Jan. 13.