Kansas City Crime Scene: Surge In Violence Threatens Metro

We've got a lot of info to share before we take a quick pause . . .

Our main point is familiar . . . 

Violence in Kansas City's urban core won't stay confined there very long. The smell of blood travels fast and local lawlessness in on place typically inspires worsening crime in surrounding areas despite differing political ideologies.

Like it or not, we're all neighbors in the metro and municipal governance is, basically, nothing more than imaginary lines drawn on a map. A terrifying but accurate thought: We're all in it together.

And so . . . Right now this post provides a space where we want to gather recent crime info, police action, court cases and all manner of relevant reporting . . .

Check TKC news gathering . . .

Community reacts following double shooting along 39th Street

The KCPD is investigating after a Monday afternoon shooting left one person dead and another critically injured.

2nd woman dies after Thursday night shooting in Kansas City, Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A second victim has died after three women were shot late Thursday night at a home in the 2700 block of North 123rd Street in Kansas City, Kansas. The KCK Police Department provided an update Monday that 51-year-old Penny Smith, who lived in the home, died Sunday at an area hospital.

Yarl shooting: Judge in Andrew Lester case makes no ruling on sealing case

The attorney for the man accused of shooting a 16-year-old argued in court Monday to seal the case. Andrew Lester, 84, is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in connection with the shooting of Ralph Yarl. Lester did not appear in court on Monday, with the judge granting him an excused absence because Lester is in poor health.

Clay County mom faces decades in prison for daughters' deaths

CLAY COUNTY, Mo. - A Clay County jury has recommended decades in prison for a Kearney woman convicted in the deaths of her two daughters. The jury convicted Jenna Boedecker of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 2-year-old Ireland Ribando and 7-week-old Goodknight Ribando on Friday.

4 Kansas City area men indicted for illegally trafficking machine guns; guns linked to shootings

Four men from the Kansas City metro area were indicted Monday by a federal grand jury in a gun trafficking conspiracy. Some of those firearms were linked to prior shootings, court documents state. Antonio Manning, 21, Sheron Lamont Manning, 20, and Michael Dewayne Hardy, 20, and Dejohuan Mietz Huntley, 25, have all been charged with engaging in firearm sales without a license.

Body found in house fire leads to KCKPD homicide investigation

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - A body found in a house fire has led to a homicide investigation in Kansas City, Kansas. The Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department said officers were dispatched to the 700 block of Broadview Avenue at 12:32 a.m.

Four people arrested in $1,600 shoplifting case near Liberty

LIBERTY, Mo. - Police busted a car full of alleged shoplifters accused of stealing hundreds of dollars worth of clothes. The Clay County Sheriff's Office worked with both Liberty police and North Kansas City police to stop the suspects at a gas station around 1 p.m. Thursday.

KCMO man charged in February robbery of Lenexa GameStop

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The second suspect in a Feb. 12 robbery of a GameStop store in Lenexa, Kansas, has been charged, according to the Lenexa Police Department. Kennard L. White, 29, of Kansas City, Missouri, is currently in custody in Jackson County, Missouri, on unrelated charges.

Kansas City police union spokeswoman says she was cheated out of pay and wrongly fired

A former spokeswoman for the union that represents Kansas City police officers has filed a lawsuit saying she was fired after asking questions about wages she was owed for her work. Jeanene Kiesling, who was fired by the union late last year, filed the lawsuit last month in Jackson County Circuit Court against the Kansas City Missouri Fraternal Order, Lodge No.

Why it's so hard to get the wrongly convicted out of prison in Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Christopher Dunn is convicted in a 1990 Saint Louis murder. His conviction was based largely in part on teenage eyewitnesses who are now adults and admit under oath they lied. Dunn has served 33 years and has fresh hope now that a prosecutor is asking a judge to vacate his conviction.

KC police identify three victims who died in shooting at Klimax Lounge over the weekend

Three people who died in a shooting over the weekend at Kansas City, Missouri, bar and restaurant Klimax Lounge have been identified by police. KCPD says 41-year-old Jason McConnell, 24-year-old Antoinette Brenson and 33-year-old Clarence Henderson were all killed in the mass shooting. Two more victims remain in critical but stable condition, according to police.

KCPD Partners With Community, Law Enforcement Agencies To Reduce Violent Crime

"This week the FBI is working in lockstep with our local, state, and federal partners as part of the Violent Crime Reduction Initiative," said FBI Kansas City Division Special Agent in Charge Charles Dayoub.

Family remembers, mourns mother of 3 killed in Klymax Lounge shooting

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Klymax, a nightclub in the middle of Kansas City's south Oak Park neighborhood, is now lined with yellow roses and loved ones' names memorialized in chalk. On Monday, neighbors in south Oak Park recalled a gun battle in their backyard that killed three people and injured two others over the weekend.

Developing . . .