Six months after her daughter’s loss of life, Jenele Hughes and her household attended what would have been the teenager’s commencement from Grandview Excessive College.
Like many seniors, her daughter Amauri Hughes had been excited to graduate and begin the following section of her life. She had deliberate to attend Florida A&M College, after which turn out to be a flight attendant to journey the world.
Earlier than college began, her mother picked out a shirt on Amazon that stated “Proud mama of a 2024 senior,” and located comparable ones for Amauri’s sister, brother, grandparents, aunts and different kinfolk. She let the shirts sit in her on-line cart for months, uncertain if the household ought to put on them for Amauri’s senior pictures or save them for commencement.
However the alternative to face beside her daughter for these events was taken from her.
In November, 17-year-old Amauri was reported lacking. She was discovered useless the next day with stab wounds, a gunshot damage, bruises and lacking tooth. Her boyfriend Tyheem V. Anderson, 19, was charged with second-degree homicide, first-degree assault, kidnapping, illegal use of a weapon and three counts of armed felony motion.
The violence minimize brief the lifetime of a younger woman who beloved aggressive cheerleading, excelled in coding lessons and, by the point she was 11 or 12, began a hair styling enterprise within the household’s residence. She was an energetic older sister who helped train her siblings to stroll, cooked for them and confirmed as much as cheer them on at their occasions.
As time handed, Jenele Hughes determined to order the shirts anyway, and wore them to work forward of commencement. She remains to be Amauri’s proud mom, she reasoned. She at all times might be. However because the ceremony approached, her pleasure turned to anger and unhappiness. An empty chair sat on the stage the place her daughter ought to have been, with a cap and robe draped in Amauri’s honor.
“You see all the pieces on social media about all these folks graduating, strolling throughout the stage, and also you don’t get that have. Somebody took that from you,” Jenele Hughes stated. “And although I’m glad for everybody else and glad that they get to expertise that, I’m jealous as properly that every one I can stroll away with was an indication that I had made and taking an image with an indication and never a baby.”
The college known as her daughter’s title and held a second of silence. Jenele Hughes burst into tears and determined to depart. She didn’t need to overshadow the second her daughter’s classmates and associates had labored towards for years.
Amauri’s story is way from an remoted case.
In 2023, Kansas City’s deadliest year ever recorded, Amauri was amongst 19 minors who died by murder. By the top of the yr, there had been 185 homicides within the metropolis — the deadliest yr on document in Kansas Metropolis — with simply over 10% of these deaths amongst youth. Of the 70 homicides in Kansas Metropolis as of June 20, 10 juveniles have died, in keeping with data tracked by The Star, totaling over 14% of homicides.
The rise in gun-related accidents amongst youth in Kansas Metropolis has been steep this yr, officers say.
Over the past yr, the emergency room at Children’s Mercy has seen a major improve in sufferers admitted with gunshot wounds and different types of “penetrating trauma,” stated Dr. Jennifer Watts, a pediatric emergency medication doctor.
In 2023, Kansas Metropolis police reported 59 kids and youths wounded by gunfire. As of June 16, 52 youth gunshot wounds have already been reported in 2024, in keeping with information from police.
Because the numbers rise, so does the heartbreak for households throughout Kansas Metropolis.
Among the many youth killed this yr: 17-year-old Benyamin Hawthorne, who was fatally shot on a basketball court docket at a park; 11-year-old Kourtney Freeman, who was shot and killed whereas preparing for mattress in her residence and 17-year-old Carlos Gonzalez, who was fatally shot alongside his childhood good friend.
‘A part of everybody’s story’
Up to now, many younger sufferers have come to Youngsters’s Mercy with unintended gunshot wounds, typically brought on when a baby discovered a weapon and mistakenly fired it. Now, whether or not it’s a murder or suicide, the hospital’s emergency division is treating extra sufferers with intentional gunshot accidents, Watts stated.
“These are issues that might be prevented,” Watts stated, “and it’s heart-wrenching to see it improve and proceed to extend.”
As workers work to heal sufferers’ bodily wounds, they’re additionally beginning to assist them course of the traumatic occasions they’ve skilled with preventative psychological well being therapy. That work consists of normalizing a baby’s fears after a traumatic occasion and offering an area the place they really feel secure.
“As soon as an damage happens, it’s part of that little one’s life without end,” Watts stated. “It’s part of that household’s life without end. But when we may help mitigate a number of the signs that they’ve simply post-trauma, then the higher off that child and that household might be.”
The continued risk of violence poses an impediment to serving to kids heal from traumatic occasions, stated Alexandra Beineman, vp of medical development at Camber Children’s Mental Health. As youngsters work by their psychological well being points, they’re typically uncovered to tales of family members and different group members impacted by violence, even at occasions meant to be secure for households.
“If that’s occurring locally, then our children are feeling that, they’re bearing the load of that,” Beineman stated. “It’s part of what they’re having to course of with their psychological well being struggles.”
Camber was one of many space suppliers to supply free digital remedy periods to kids impacted by the taking pictures on the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs Super Bowl victory rally at Union Station on Feb. 14 that killed one particular person and left 24 others shot, including nine children. They heard from and helped households who didn’t know methods to assist their little one course of their emotions after that day.
It’s vital all households and caretakers be taught to speak to their kids about group violence, Beineman stated. Whether or not or not it’s impacted them straight, she stated, youngsters are conscious that it’s an issue.
A kind of youngsters was 11-year-old Kourtney Freeman, who labored all through the final college yr on anti-violence initiatives along with her classmates at Ewing Marion Kauffman College. About two weeks earlier than the scholars had been set to host a workshop on group violence, Kourtney was fatally shot whereas preparing for mattress in her residence.
“At this level, it’s actually simply part of everybody’s story,” Beineman stated. “So I believe that if we’re taking a look at youngsters who’re feeling anxious, who’re battling trauma responses, whether or not that’s behaviorally or impulse management or suicidal ideation, with the extent of group violence we’re seeing in our communities throughout America, it will be ignorant to not assume that that’s a part of that little one’s story.”
‘Everybody must care’
Rosilyn Temple based KC Mothers in Charge a couple of decade in the past, after dropping her son to gun violence in 2011 when he was 26 years outdated. She travels to murder scenes throughout town and provides assist and assets to victims’ households.
Within the early days of KC Moms in Cost, Temple remembers the August 2013 killing of 3-year-old Damiah White and her mother, Myeisha Turner, who had been discovered useless inside their residence. Talking with a murder detective on the time, they talked about how extra kids like Damiah would die if group leaders didn’t step as much as assist curb gun violence.
Within the years since, their fears have come true.
When somebody dies of their group, whether or not or not they know the sufferer or their household, everybody must care, Temple stated.
By means of her group, Temple hosts canvassing occasions and vigils to recollect victims misplaced to gun violence and push to resolve their instances. To assist decrease murder charges, she thinks extra group members have to be taught in regards to the challenge and do what they’ll to unfold consciousness, whereas organizations like hers work to supply assist, as they did after the loss of life of Amauri Hughes.
After her daughter’s loss of life, Jenele Hughes felt alone, even in rooms the place everybody beloved her. Individuals supplied assist with good intentions, however at instances it was overwhelming. It felt like her privateness had been stripped, and everybody locally was watching her.
Then Temple reached out, and Hughes discovered an outlet in KC Moms in Cost. There, she stated, she’s surrounded by individuals who know what she’s been by. On the third Thursday of each month, she meets them for group remedy.
“You get to be free and simply let it out, and also you’re not judged for something,” Hughes stated. “You possibly can scream, cry, roll on the ground, snigger. It has been in all probability one of the best launch for me that I’ve had as of but, and I’m actually grateful.”
Hughes has discovered that she’ll by no means totally heal from her daughter’s loss of life, however she hopes to nonetheless have a satisfying life and switch her consideration towards activism targeted on stopping home violence and murder.
Mitigating violence would require assist from each a part of a group to make sure youngsters have secure locations to go, and have adults of their lives who mannequin wholesome battle decision abilities and psychological well being assets, Beineman stated.
She hosts two free webinar sequence a yr for group members on pertinent psychological well being matters. Final fall, this system mentioned violence in colleges and communities and its results on younger folks. In spring, the sequence targeted on PTSD and the impression trauma has on the mind. Each instances, the webinar checked out methods communities can assist younger folks processing these points.
Hughes additionally believes that, so as to reduce violence in communities, adults ought to step up, watch over the younger folks of their space and deal with them as their very own kids. Children in her neighborhood know that her house is an area they’ll come for meals, water and birthday presents, she stated, however in addition they know she’ll self-discipline them once they’re out of line.
It’s vital, Hughes stated, to be the one who speaks up once they see one thing fallacious, even when there’s concern concerned.
When Hughes first knocked on doorways after studying her daughter was lacking, solely two girls answered and tried to assist. The person dwelling closest to the place her daughter was killed shut the door in her face and refused to assist. She wonders if some info he might’ve supplied might have been the distinction that saved her daughter’s life.
“Perhaps you can’ve helped save a 17-year-old from sitting in a home for 2 days being tortured and dying,” Hughes stated. “However you had been so unwilling to be part of what might have been an answer.”
