Community comes together to discuss preventing crime in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An open discussion Thursday night about crime and gun violence in the Kansas City metro.

From big voices to little ones, a room inside a Kansas City, Missouri church served as a meeting place for people all over the metro to talk about combating crime.

Lexi Grado was one of the panelist. She lives on the west side and now owns a business there. A spot that’s become popular for street racing. Just last weekend she said as many as 40 people were on the roof.

“I went down there and said ‘you have to get off’ and you see a lot of kids with guns and they’re not little and they’re not hiding them,” she said.

That’s her story. In the crowd, there’s another, this one from a victim of gun violence.

Johnny Waller Jr. was shot in the head when he was 16. Now an adult, he’s a community advocate and came out Thursday to show support.

“It caused nightmares. I still have bullet fragments, have to take medication,” he said. “I want to see a call to action so this isn’t just a one and done or one of those meetings that we always go to and everyone forgets until the next one.”

That’s how everyone felt in that room. Discussing solutions, like giving opportunities to kids to be kids. Places to hangout, working with police to create a more personal connection and better childcare services. Resources for young parents.

And they all agree, it’s going to take action by everyone.

“If you want to change, you have to be apart of the change too,” Grado said.

“I don’t want anyone to be a victim what I went through. It hurt, I don’t know how else to describe it,” Waller said.

Some ideas were shared Thursday night, like how business owners are planning to deter street racers and spectators from that area.

The meeting was hosted by county legislators who decided to create a space for people to get together after hearing pleas for more to be done about improving the safety of the community.

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