The owner of a Kansas City nightclub called local police at least five times on the night of a deadly shooting—including twice to report the alleged gunman—before officers responded to the May 21 attack that killed three people and critically injured two others, a new investigation by The Kansas City Star revealed Wednesday.
Police tape in Kansas City. Photo by Larry W. Smith/Getty Images
The Star reported that police records show Mario Williams, the owner of the Klymax Lounge, called police once to report a suspicious vehicle circling his night club in a call that was disconnected and called a second time to report men with guns and ask for help 20 minutes before a deadly shooting.
Police records showed the call was identified as “suspicious” and given a priority number of 4, the Star reported, meaning there was no immediate danger to human life.
Williams told the newspaper police said there were no officers available to respond, but a Kansas City police spokesperson later said there were several officers already patrolling the area at the time of the calls.
Kansas City police told the Star that officers responded to a shooting call at 1:25 a.m. on May 21 and arrived at the lounge one minute later, but the club owner said they didn’t actually arrive until roughly 30 minutes later to find five people shot.
Records provided by Williams and police to the Star showed the club owner called police at least five times the night of the shooting, twice to report suspicious activity by the alleged gunman ahead of time and three more times after shots had been fired.
The Kansas City Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment Wednesday.
“If we had one officer patrolling the area at that time, or one officer showed their presence at the club, I really think this wouldn’t have happened,” Williams said.
Three people died and two others were hurt after shots were fired in Kansas City in the early hours of Sunday, May 21. Clarence "CJ" Henderson, Antoinette "Libby" Brenson and Jason McConnell, the security guard working the door at the club, were all killed. Charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, were filed against Isiah Clinton, believed by police to be one of the shooters involved, on Friday. The Star reported that prosecutors believe Clinton waited for Henderson and shot him as he exited the club.
Kansas City had its second-highest number of homicides ever in 2022 with 171, a number that grows to 264 when including the entire metro area. Kansas City's deadliest year on record was 2020 with 182 killings, the Star reported, and so far this year 106 people have been killed.
- That’s how many mass shootings have occurred so far this year, according to data collected by the Gun Violence Archive. The Kansas City shooting is not included in that count—the archive defines a mass shooting as an incident with at least four injuries or deaths, not including the shooter. Mass shootings in Ohio, Texas and Maryland over the Fourth of July weekend left more than 30 people shot.
KC nightclub owner called police 20 minutes before mass shooting. Why didn’t they come? (Kansas City Star)
U.S. Sees Record Number Of Mass Shootings Halfway Through 2023 (Forbes)