Three dead, two injured after shooting at Klymax Lounge nightclub in Kansas City

Update: A family member identified one victim in the shooting as Jason McConnell, who worked security at the nightclub. That story is posted here.

Three people died and two were injured following a shooting early Sunday at a nightclub in Kansas City, police said.

Officers responded around 1:25 a.m. to reports of a shooting at Klymax Lounge, 4242 Indiana Ave., and found five victims all believed to be adults, said Officer Donna Drake, a spokeswoman for the Kansas City Police Department.

Two people were pronounced dead at the scene and another three were transported to the hospital by emergency medical crews. Officials said one of the deceased victims was found outside the lounge and the other was located inside.

A short time later, one of the people transported to the hospital was pronounced dead.

Another person at the hospital was in critical condition, and the other was considered stable, Drake said.

By some definitions, the shooting could be considered a mass shooting.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, an incident in which at least four people are injured or killed besides the shooter can be considered a mass shooting. Other organizations, like Everytown for Gun Safety, say that if at least four people other than the shooter are fatally shot, the incident is a mass shooting.

Detectives and investigators were processing the scene for evidence and searching for potential witnesses.

A woman who lives near the nightclub, who asked not to be named in this story to protect her safety, said she woke up overnight to a series of about 10 gunshots.

There was a pause, she said, and then she heard another five shots.

Outside, she saw a young woman’s body right outside the club doors and people stepping over her to exit.

Two more bodies lay at a nearby street lamp. She watched emergency medical crews bring another body down on a stretcher from a nearby hill.

“It’s really sad,” she said. “It’s something that’s continuously going on.”

There have been dozens of victims of shootings at Kansas City area nightclubs and bars in recent years.

In March of 2018, 9. Michael J. Williams Jr., 35, was shot to death at the Firelight Lounge on Parallel Parkway, police said at the time. The club’s owner said a woman pushed her way past security and fired one shot, killing Williams.

Four people were killed and five others were injured in a shooting at the Tequila KC Bar in October 2019 in Kansas City, Kansas. Two men were suspected in the shooting.

In January 2020, a man killed one person and wounded 15 others when he began firing into a line of people waiting to get inside 9Ultra Lounge off Noland Road.

In August of that same year, four people were shot and wounded at the same nightclub when an argument spilled into the parking lot. Multiple shooters fired dozens of rounds, police said at the time. Later that year, the Kansas City liquor Control Board of Review revoked the club’s liquor license, pointing to the violence.

In 2021, after a series of fights, gunfire and a fatal shooting, Rendezvous Lounge also had a licenses revoked by the the Kansas City Liquor Control Board of Review, forcing the club to close at 1 a.m.

Including the most recent shooting, there have been 65 homicides in Kansas City so far this year, according to data tracked by The Star, which includes fatal police shootings. There had been 63 killings at this time last year.

Police ask anyone with information to call detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477. A reward of up to $25,000 is available for information leading to an arrest in this case.

The Star’s Anna Spoerre contributed.