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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With 16 homicides already, 2020 is threatening to become Kansas City’s deadliest year in the past five.

One person was hurt and two others killed in three separate shootings since early Tuesday. Community advocates say something must change now to avoid a record-setting year for violence.

On Tuesday, two neighborhoods were closed off with crime tape in east Kansas City. It’s becoming an all too familiar site for people who call the area home.

“You would think starting out a new year, we’d be doing something different, but we’re picking up where we left off,” Pat Clarke said.

Just after midnight, a man was shot numerous times near Denver and Smart. Police said the man died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Later that day, KCPD was called about shots fired near 44th and Wabash around 11 a.m.

Minutes later, a couple blocks east, a man was found shot to death near a car wash at 43rd and Prospect. Tactical teams surrounded a home nearby, searching for a suspect, which turned up empty.

And at about the same time, another man told police he’d been shot near 44th and Park and had made it to 44th and S. Benton Avenue.

Police said the injury and deadly shooting are not connected, but there are common threads in the tide of violence.

“I don’t know what this stemmed from. A lot of what we know based on investigations we’ve conducted so far and cases we’ve got charges on is they stem from things like disagreements and arguments. It doesn’t have to end that way and shouldn’t end that way,” KCPD Sgt. Jake Becchina said.

Police are doing more to help by putting extra officers in the homicide and assault squad units.

“It’s resources we wish we didn’t have to devote. We’d like to devote those resources to, you know, other community outreach programs and other things, proactive efforts,” Becchina said.

But neighbors are getting increasingly fed up with the violence and say everyone has to step up to help stop it.

“It’s not going to take law enforcement to stop this. It’s going to take us — the ones that live around here, the ones that really want to see this end,” Clarke said.

So far, there have been no arrests in Tuesday’s shootings.

If you can help, call the KCPD homicide unit or crime stoppers at 816-474-TIPS. You can remain anonymous and be eligible for up to a $25,000 reward.

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