Church remembers victims of violence in Kansas City on Easter Sunday
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As families celebrated the Easter holiday, one Kansas City church held a service for families with an empty seat at the table. In 2020, 182 people were killed in Kansas City, Missouri. Bryce Pulliam was one of them. He was an athlete, a musician, a father and a son. “He loved people, every time you saw him, he had a smile on his face,” said his mother, Karen Pulliam. “It’s really hard for me to talk about it because it hurts a lot and I want the person who did this to have some kind of remorse for what he did to my son.”Bryce was 30 years old. Shot during an altercation while out with friends a week before Christmas.“I think that’s what bothers me the most is because I don’t know why that had to happen. I don’t know why everybody has to carry guns and things like that it’s just too much violence going on,” said his mother. “The part that is probably the most difficult thing is that within our community, there is a code of silence,” said Henry Pulliam Jr., Bryce’s father. “People don’t want to talk and until people are willing to at least have some type of dialogue about this I don’t see any end to it.”More than 40 people have been killed in Kansas City in 2021. Sunday, faith leaders honored those lost by calling for action. They gathered at Beth-Judah Ministries for a service that included reading each one of the 182 names of people killed in 2020, including those killed in police shootings. Rev. Dr. Vernon Howard, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City proposed a number of approaches ranging from conflict resolution and increased ages to background checks for gun purchases and change in leadership at the Kansas City Police Department. He urged the community to get engaged to help prevent another family from experiencing the pain of this loss.“Don’t wait until this kind of tragedy impacts your child, your young man, your young woman,” he said. “Let’s really be community. Let’s really care about what happens to my neighbor.”
As families celebrated the Easter holiday, one Kansas City church held a service for families with an empty seat at the table. In 2020, 182 people were killed in Kansas City, Missouri.
Bryce Pulliam was one of them.
He was an athlete, a musician, a father and a son.
“He loved people, every time you saw him, he had a smile on his face,” said his mother, Karen Pulliam. “It’s really hard for me to talk about it because it hurts a lot and I want the person who did this to have some kind of remorse for what he did to my son.”
Bryce was 30 years old. Shot during an altercation while out with friends a week before Christmas.
“I think that’s what bothers me the most is because I don’t know why that had to happen. I don’t know why everybody has to carry guns and things like that it’s just too much violence going on,” said his mother.
“The part that is probably the most difficult thing is that within our community, there is a code of silence,” said Henry Pulliam Jr., Bryce’s father. “People don’t want to talk and until people are willing to at least have some type of dialogue about this I don’t see any end to it.”
More than 40 people have been killed in Kansas City in 2021.
Sunday, faith leaders honored those lost by calling for action. They gathered at Beth-Judah Ministries for a service that included reading each one of the 182 names of people killed in 2020, including those killed in police shootings.
Rev. Dr. Vernon Howard, President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Kansas City proposed a number of approaches ranging from conflict resolution and increased ages to background checks for gun purchases and change in leadership at the Kansas City Police Department.
He urged the community to get engaged to help prevent another family from experiencing the pain of this loss.
“Don’t wait until this kind of tragedy impacts your child, your young man, your young woman,” he said. “Let’s really be community. Let’s really care about what happens to my neighbor.”
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