‘A bright spirit’: Family, friends grieve mother of 2 killed in Kansas City mass shooting

Jasity “Jas” Strong was supposed to be getting ready for a Caribbean cruise.

She helped her cousins learn a tricky line dance they were planning to do after the ship set sail. It was just one part of the weeklong voyage that they were looking forward to.

Instead, dozens of her family members and friends gathered Wednesday at Longview Lake to remember Strong after her life was cut short by another act of relentless Kansas City violence. Donning T-shirts with her photograph, they let a sea of balloons — pink, purple and yellow — out over the water, calling out “I love you, Jas” as they flew away.

Strong, a mother of two young children, was among the three killed in a Kansas City mass shooting that left six others wounded early Sunday morning at 57th Street and Prospect Avenue.

Authorities have said 26-year-old Keivon Greene, now facing three counts of murder, opened fire on crowds gathered outside a business on Prospect known to host after-hours weekend gatherings. Also killed in the shooting were Nikko Manning, 22 and Camden Brown, 27.

Family and friends remembered Strong on Wednesday as a bright, beautiful and fun-loving young woman. She was out celebrating her 28th birthday when she died.

“I just wish it was me other than her,” Tamika Jenkins, her mother, said Wednesday.

“I just lost my mom five months ago,” she added. “And now I gotta bury my daughter.”

Trish Mitchell, Strong’s aunt, said Strong was like a daughter to her. As Strong leaves behind a one-year-old son and six-year-old daughter, Mitchell said the family has only begun trying to explain the loss to Strong’s eldest.

“I really don’t think that she understands the magnitude of what has happened just yet,” Mitchell said of her grandniece.

Miesha Ross, Strong’s cousin, said she last saw Strong two days before she was killed. They were supposed to go out for a family birthday dinner.

“Birthday dinner never came,” Ross said.

“It’s just senseless. Jas was a good mom. She would light up any room. She was friendly. If you met Jas, you would love her. She had a bright spirit. And it’s just unfortunate that she’s gone at the age of 28.”

“It’s just not fair. She needs to be here,” Ross added.

Kansas City police officers were dispatched to the shooting around 4:30 a.m. Sunday. All three of those fatally shot were found unresponsive in the parking lot of an auto repair shop on Prospect where partygoers were.

Authorities have said the shooting apparently started over an argument about a woman being hugged.

Greene, an alleged shooter and the only person facing criminal charges, was first interviewed by police after he showed up at an area hospital with a gunshot wound to his hand. He was later charged with assault and gun crimes.

On Tuesday, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced additional charges filed against Greene. He faces two counts of second-degree murder in the killings of Brown and Manning.

Greene is accused of felony murder — a charge prosecutors bring when a separate, underlying felony crime leads to a person’s death— for allegedly creating the situation where Strong was fatally shot.

“Whether he fired the fatal shot or not, (Greene) is the individual that set off this chain event that led to shooting by others,” Baker said during briefing Tuesday, adding that he is “certainly … responsible for the death of this young woman.”

He is being held without bond in Jackson County jail.

The mass shooting touched off responses from Kansas City leaders, including Police Chief Stacey Graves, as the city approaches historically high rates of gun violence even as homicides have dropped in other major cities. During a Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners meeting Tuesday, Graves expressed concern that many young people are growing up surrounded by trauma.

As of Wednesday, there had been 99 killings in Kansas City in 2023 — a figure on pace with the year 2020, when the city saw its highest number of homicides in history with 182.

As members of Strong’s family cope with the sudden loss, they also want to raise awareness about how gun violence has impacted their family and bring change to Kansas City.

Mitchell, Strong’s aunt, is organizing a petition seeking to put restrictions on the concealed carry of firearms in large gathering places — something she hopes will help address the growing problem.

“We need more than prayers and condolences,” Mitchell told The Star on Wednesday. “It’s time for us as a community to band together, rally around the victims of these senseless crimes and shootings and do something about it.”

Ross, Strong’s cousin, said the family intends to still take their vacation this weekend and hold a funeral for Strong when they return. She said it was a tough decision, and the trip will not be the same without her, but they knew Strong would want them to go.

“Jas loved to have fun. Every time you looked up, she was dancing,” Ross said.

The Star’s Andrea Klick contributed to this report.