The root causes of homicides in Kansas City & solutions to stop them

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – As this week comes to a close, Kansas City, MO is approaching 130 homicides so far this year.

A majority of which stem from what police label arguments, retaliation, or drug deals gone bad.

This alarming trend could go down if people know about better solutions out there. Being the Director of Public Safety for Kansas City, Melesa Johnson has heard how many shootings in the city are caused by meaningless arguments.  

“One of our homicides that occurred last week stemmed from a piece of pizza,” Johnson said. “The triple murder that happened at the intersection of 57th and Prospect started because of a hug and a girl.”

Data from Kansas City, MO Police show of the 127 homicides the city has seen so far in 2023, 60% stem from arguments, retaliation, and drug deals gone bad.

Instead of resorting to guns, the city urges everyone impacted by gun violence and other crime to turn to their Partners for Peace program to learn how to solve their grief and disputes without killing. 

Johnson added, “Once we meet with the contacts or our referral’s we ascertain their needs and if their is an aspect we offer grief counseling, therapy, conflict resolution training, anger management training, soft skills training.”

In the private sector, those like Synergy Services notice most shootings occur between those who know one another. Which makes speaking about those conflicts more vital to stop anyone from dying. 

“We just delve into the situation, what happened, where did it start, what was the trigger word, what word do we not use again?,” Corky McCaffrey of Synergy Services explained. 

Counselors want you to know they’re not-judgmental and many have been their own experiences and can relate.

“Outreach workers walking into environments where people already know who they are,” Johnson told us. “That just retches up their ability to relate and get to the individuals we’re trying to reach.”

To learn how you can get involved with all these programs or reference someone you know who could use their help, click here.

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