‘Like a scene from a movie:’ Witness describes chaos following Sunday shooting in Westport

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Accounts of chaos in Westport are continuing to come in from people who were there when a shooting erupted Sunday night, killing one person and injuring five others.

Anthony Briscoe was driving south on Broadway, on his way to meet friends for drinks in the Westport area and celebrate finishing their résumés, when he had to hit the brakes.

“People were flooding the streets, running and trying to get away from the gunfire,” Briscoe described. “All you heard was just gunfire all across the street, just echoing everywhere.”

The urgency was obvious in police radio traffic captured on a scanner.

“We need more officers here,” one officer said.

“Get these people back,” another said, trying to establish a perimeter.

“It was like a scene from the movie. It was just chaos,” said Briscoe.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Public Information Officer Sgt. Bill Lowe said the shooting happened outside the Ale House at about 11 p.m. after a disturbance inside spilled out of the bar.

The state agency is investigating because they say three KCPD personnel working off-duty for the bar also stepped outside and began firing. With so many shots fired, Lowe said, investigators haven’t sorted out yet who hit whom, including whether anyone was hit by any of the officers’ gunfire.

Lowe said one person was killed and five others, including a security guard, were injured. Kansas City Police Capt. Leslie Foreman later clarified that the security guard injured was a “Westport Security Officer,” not one of the off-duty KCPD officers working security for the bar

“It’s just an overall unfortunate situation. It’s a little too close to home and a little close for comfort for me,” said Briscoe.

Briscoe grew up in KC and was visiting from Dallas. He said it’ll be a while before he comes back to Westport, even though he sees what happened as more of a Kansas City problem than a Westport one. He remarked on a shooting just one week earlier near the Power & Light District after a Sunday night concert at the T-Mobile Center. Four people were hurt in that shooting. Police described all of those injuries as not life-threatening.

“It’s just a shame, really, because it’s such a great place to actually live until you get to incidents like this,” Briscoe said.

Westport has additional security and metal detectors during the summer months beginning at 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays within a specific pedestrian-only area.

Ale House is typically outside of that area, and this happened on a Sunday.

No one was in custody and none of the victims has been identified as of Monday night.

Previous coverage:

Woman who lives nearby recalls scene following mass shooting in Westport

1 dead, 5 injured in mass shooting outside Westport Ale House

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