Kansas City police are searching for a man who shot and killed a Missouri mother inside her home after her 10-year-old son opened the front door to a stranger.
The unannounced visitor asked the boy to fetch his mom at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Police said LaShonda Myers, 31, was killed by the gunman. Her son ran upstairs, hid in the bathroom and called 911.
Police arrived on the scene within minutes of the shooting. The terrified boy saw the officers inside with guns and flashlights but was afraid to move in case the shooter was still after him.
“If he was looking for me and he went upstairs to my momma’s room looking for me, I could have been an easy target because there’s not that many hiding places,” the boy said. “I cracked open the door and I didn’t see the policeman’s face. I was sitting there moving back behind the door.”
“He said it’s OK,” the child remembered the policeman saying. “One of the police took me in my momma’s room and I couldn’t breathe because the gunfire had scared me.”
According to the boy’s aunt, his mom died at the scene.
“I was just at a loss. I felt empty I felt breathless, cause this young lady takes care of her kids. She is not out here in the streets doing anything to make anyone want to do something like this to her, so I just don’t understand,” said Mynesha Myers.
“She really didn’t do anything. She was what they call a square. You know, she is not out there partying,” she added. “She goes to work, takes care of her kids.”
The responding officers conducted a thorough search of the house to make sure no one else was inside.
According to the boy, the killer asked, “Is there somebody in there I can talk to?” The boy’s mom called out to him to see if the person at the door was someone they knew. The boy told her to come and see. As she approached, the man shot the boy’s mom within several feet of her son.
The 10-year-old still has a hearing problem caused by the gunfire.
“No child should have to deal with that,” Myers’s aunt, Rachel Johnson, said.
The victim had just ended an abusive relationship, the Star reported. Myers worked as a nurse at the nearby Nursing and Convalescent Center in Kansas City.
Police had no suspect details on Wednesday and had no information about a motive.
