Westport shooting that injured 5 is latest in series of crime, thefts for KC neighborhood

Lindsey Kupper, 40, owner of Gilded Chaos Vintage in Westport, wasn’t at her shop when gunfire erupted Wednesday night , injuring five people and shattering windows at Pop! Vintage Furniture and Accessories next door.

A Kansas City police detective asked her if she’d seen or heard anything, or had video surveillance of the shooting. But her video cameras are only inside — to monitor theft — and, as she usually does, she had left by 6 that night.

“It doesn’t feel great to base your hours on crime, but I think that’s kind of the reality of our situation,” Kupper said.

Kansas City police officers responded to the reported shooting just after 8 p.m. in the 300 block of Westport Road. They found three people with gunshot wounds who were taken by ambulance to a hospital with critical injuries. While officers were at the scene, they learned two additional victims from the shooting had arrived at a hospital.

According to a Kansas City police incident report, four men and one juvenile male were injured in the shooting. The victims received treatment and were recovering Thursday, according to KCPD spokesman Phil DiMartino.

Police have not yet said what led to the shooting. No one was in custody as of Thursday afternoon, DiMartino said.

“Rapid gunfire, at least 20 shots”

Alissa Ryckert, a 28-year-old baker at Enchante Bakery, heard the shooting from her apartment near 37th Street. The bakery is four blocks northeast from where the shooting happened Wednesday.

“I was sitting on my couch around 8 and I heard rapid gunfire, at least 20 shots,” Ryckert said. “It sounded like some kind of rifle.”

About 10 minutes after she heard the gunfire, she heard police sirens going toward the direction of where the gunfire came from.

“I have lived in Midtown about two years and I’ve heard about eight shootings — usually not that much gunfire though,” Ryckert said. “Usually it’s like one or two shots. I just turned off my lights and stayed on my couch.”

Ryckert said she has heard gunfire before, but usually much closer to her apartment’s parking lot. Ariel Frenkel, 22, who also works at Enchante and lives nearby, said she has felt less safe living in the neighborhood of 38th and Central as shootings and break-ins have become more frequent.

“We have very frequent break-ins on (Main) street,” Frenkel said. “There was a two-week period where we (Enchante) were robbed three times. People came in and took tips while we were working.”

The bakery’s front door was broken earlier this year. The owner later installed iron gates to prevent people from getting to the door when the shop is closed.

‘There was blood everywhere’

Nedal Seyam, 60, who lives in Shawnee, was watching a sports game with friends in a neighboring Westport business when he heard the first of several rounds of gunfire.

“I’ve never been in a situation like that before,” Seyam said. “The sound of the bullets was extremely scary. It was so loud, just so loud. It had my heart down in the ground.”

Multiple patrons, including Seyam, took cover on the floor and behind the counter as the sounds of a second round of gunfire came from outside.

“It sound[ed] like someone was banging on the wall, very loud,” Seyam said. “...We just dropped down to the ground right away… We were afraid that any of these bullets might come in through the window of the store.”

When the shooting stopped and Seyam made his way out of the building, the first thing he saw was a trail of blood, along with two people lying in the street and parking lot, he said. Seyam said that one of the victims appeared to have been shot in the chest.

“There was blood everywhere,” Seyam said. “...Both [gunshot victims] were very scared. They were screaming. They were thinking like they were going to die. It was just very, very horrible.”

Officers arrived about eight minutes after the gunshots stopped, Seyam said. Seyam later found out that two bullets had hit his car - one shattering the drivers’ side window and one lodging in between two doors.

One day after the shooting, Seyam is still very shaken up, he said. He can’t stop thinking, he said, about what might have happened if he had been in his car during the shooting.

“If I was there, if I was in the car, the bullet would be in my head,” Seyam said. “The way that it hit, if I was sitting in the car or I’d tried to leave a little bit early, the bullet would 100% strike me.”

‘This is a Kansas City thing’

Kupper and other businesses in Kansas City’s Westport neighborhood said crime is most common at night, creating a dichotomy of activity between the daytime and nighttime hours.

“This isn’t a Westport thing — this is a Kansas City thing,” Kupper said.

Kupper said her location on Westport Road is good for business, but she is worried she may have to find a new location because of the crime, especially the frequent break-ins, she said.

Though there have been a handful of shootings in Westport in recent years, theft has been the biggest issue in the neighborhood, agreed Drew Barr, a manager of The Bunker one block south of Kupper’s vintage clothing store.

Despite the crime, he said Westport has been a good place to do business, and that shootings are not common in the neighborhood known for its vintage shops, eateries, and nightlife. Westport is generally safe, he believes, but shops have had to resort to installing more security measures to prevent break-ins.

“I’ve worked here for 20 (years)... during the day (shootings) are really rare,” Barr said. “There’s been a handful of incidents in 20 plus years that have happened before late at night. There’s been an uptick in petty crime.”

“But smashed windows is not the same thing as (a shooting),” Barr said. “It’s tragic that happened.”

Barr said he is thankful for a rapid police response Wednesday night and hopes that those responsible will be held accountable.