KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police were searching Sunday for two men who opened fire at a bar in Kansas City, Kansas, killing four people and wounding five others.
Police Officer Thomas Tomasic said authorities believe the shooting around 1:30 a.m. Sunday at Tequila KC Bar stemmed from an earlier altercation. He said the two gunmen had apparently gotten into a dispute with some people inside the bar, left, then returned with handguns.
Around 40 people were inside the small bar at the time, Tomasic said. The gunfire sent them running for the exits, with the injured leaving trails of blood as they fled.
“When people came out, they were definitely running,” he said.
No one has been arrested.
All four men who were killed were Hispanic, but Tomasic said authorities do not believe the shooting was racially motivated. The shooting happened in a largely Hispanic neighborhood.
Tomasic cautioned that police were still investigating exactly what happened. He said they were reviewing surveillance video and interviewing witnesses while looking for the gunmen.
“Obviously being a bar at 1:30, stories vary a lot,” he said.
Among the dead was one man in his late 50s, another in his mid-30s and two in their mid-20s, police said. Authorities did not immediately release their names.
Juan Ramirez, of Kansas City, Kansas, told The Kansas City Star that his 29-year-old nephew was among those killed. He said his nephew left behind a 6-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter.
“I don’t wish this upon anybody,” Ramirez said.
