Friday, January 7, 2011

2010 Homicides: April

April was a deadly month in Kansas City, Missouri. Over ten people lost their lives to homicide in April. The stories were the same and different. In a fight with another. Killed by gunfire into the home. Found dead after a fire was extinguished. Shot while in the process of breaking and entering into another's home. A murder suicide--the husband shooting his wife before turning the gun on himself. A tableau of how humans can violently clash. Here are the names:

Martinous Woods, 29--Toni L. Payne, 25--Lakeshia M Ross, 34--Richard Franks, Jr, 41--Billy J Webb, 58--Emmanual Menifield, 21--Michael Wilson, 20--Lorine Greer, 36 (Marvell Greer, 47)--Christopher Harris, 22--Helen Ragan, 38--Charles Henderson, 29--Bernard M Jackson, 23

This group includes three women and ranges in age from 20 to 58. Children, parents, grandparents lost to their families and friends.

The Observer has listed a total of 29 names to this point, covering the first four months of 2010.

4 comments:

Ann T. said...

Dear The Observer,
This does seem like a terribly long list.

My condolences to the family and friends of Martinous, Toni, Lakeshia, Richard, Billy, Emmanual, Michael, Lorine, Christopher, Helen, Charles, and Bernard.

May they rest in peace.

May the police officers, paramedics, and fire fighters who worked these cases also find the peace and strength to do their difficult jobs.

Very truly yours
Ann T. Hathaway

The Observer said...

Ann T:
Thanks for coming by and commenting. As much as I want to do this as a public service, and to bring home the sadness and outrage of this homicide rate in our city, it is sometimes hard to post these posts.

For something more cheerful I recommend a trip to the photo blog. There you will find pets for adoption and a pretty decent photo of a locomotive. Here's a link:

http://skcobserverphotos.blogspot.com/

Have a great weekend!

The Observer

Bob G. said...

T.O.:
I know it's hard to post such things...
But if people gloss over this, we become a bit more desensitized to crime.

ANd I feel we've gone down that street far enough as it is.

Time to "get off the block" and return civility and morality to thier rightful places.

We should never become that comfortable that we accept or otherwise condone at any level those killings in any manner.

Good post.

Have a great weekend.

The Observer said...

Bob G:
That is why I started this series--I felt just a number was too impersonal. What does 106 people look like? Sometimes I try to visualize what 106 people would look like in a room together, like at church or in class or at a party.

If we break it down a bit, it can be more manageable and more personal--and more of a call to action.

T.O.