Sherae Honeycutt

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Original Post

A coalition of urban core groups is meeting Monday afternoon to discuss what more they can do to reduce gun violence in the city.

Yet another shooting Monday morning near East 114th Street and Spring Valley Road has left a man fighting for his life in the hospital.

Police say just after 7 a.m. someone fired seven shots into a home in southeast Kansas City. Police tell FOX4 a man in his 20’s was hit by at least one of the gunshots and is in critical condition at the hospital right now.

Kansas City has had 99 homicides so far this year, according to police, but around 400 shooting incidents, just like this one.

That’s why 25 different grassroots groups, representing the Justice and Dignity Coalition, met Monday to develop more activities and events, which bring people together peacefully.

“Sometimes you wake up and it’s unbelievable,” said Sheoni Givens, of the Transitions For Life Foundation, a member of the coalition. “It’s another kid, another person and another person in the street. It’s ridiculous! We have to value life. That’s what we lost sight of. We don’t value each other’s life. We think we have the right to take it, when we haven’t given life.”

A vacant parking lot near 31st Street and The Paseo is next to the police Central Patrol District. It may soon stage Smoke Your Tires events, where police and teenagers can show off their driving skills by doing donuts, safely.

Other events may include three-on-three basketball tournaments, a Day of Dignity and making drive-in movies available in the urban core.

Kansas City managed to avoid reaching 100 homicides during the holiday weekend, but just barely.

Now community leaders say they need to make sure they’re doing everything they can to mediate disputes and develop events to bring people together instead of drive them apart.