‘She was taken’: Family, faith leaders mourn young woman slain in Kansas City shooting

On the morning of Oct. 17, Era’Shae Johnson received a phone call.

The 23-year-old learned that day that she would soon be starting the new job she had hoped for — working with special needs children, her mother Aisha Johnson said. It was a career path the young woman had strived toward as she worked three other jobs simultaneously after graduating from Pittsburg State University.

But it was a dream that was ultimately left unrealized. That very night, Era’Shae Johnson was fatally shot in a parking lot of Kansas City’s Friendship Village Apartments, leaving behind a host of loved ones beset by grief.

“It hurts because she was taken,” Aisha Johnson said Thursday, speaking from a podium inside the Trinity Temple Church of God in Christ in Grandview, as she stood flanked by local faith leaders, fellow church members and a handful of officers with Kansas City police.

“And she didn’t deserve to be taken like that. Not ever. She was a good girl. She didn’t deserve it.”

The middle of three children, Era’Shae Johnson was remembered as kind, goofy and always quick with a laugh. She was called “Shae” by those who knew her well. She had recently become an aunt to her baby nephew.

In the wake of her daughter’s death, Aisha Johnson said she finds comfort knowing she will see her again one day. She knows Era’Shae is “resting well,” and that she had a strong relationship with God.

But the thought that the killer remains free has left her feeling like she is unable to breathe. She and her family want to see justice delivered for Era’Shae — and are pleading with anyone who might know something to step forward or for the person responsible to surrender to law enforcement.

“I want justice for my baby. And I’m gonna get justice for my daughter. I’m not gonna stop until I get justice for her,” Aisha Johnson said. “When I get justice, then I’m able to breathe, but right now I just need somebody to say something.”

“My baby’s life was precious. And she did not deserve to leave this Earth the way she did,” she added.

FATAL SHOOTING

On Oct. 17 around 7:45 p.m., Kansas City police officers were dispatched to a reported shooting at the Friendship Village Apartments in the 5600 block of Norton Avenue in the Swope Parkway-Elmwood neighborhood.

Responding officers found Era’Shae Johnson inside a vehicle as she was suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital and died there roughly two hours later.

At the shooting scene that night, crime scene investigators photographed and collected evidence from a silver sedan in the parking lot for a section of apartment buildings in the large complex. The vehicle was beside a large blue dumpster, its taillights on and rear door left ajar.

As of Thursday, Kansas City detectives continued to search for a suspect in Era’Shae Johnson’s killing and no charges had been filed in Jackson County in connection.

Police were asking the community for tips to help solve the case. Anyone with information was asked to call homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or make an anonymous report through the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’

Black clergy leaders gathered in Trinity Temple on Thursday highlighted the case of Era’Shae Johnson as one of many young women who have been torn from their families by senseless acts of violence.

“This young lady’s life has to be taken seriously. So today, we stand as a community because we want justice,” said Bishop Ben Stephens, senior pastor at Trinity Temple, noting that Era’Shae Johnson was a member of the church community, and the congregation watched her grow up.

Stephens pointed to the broader issues of domestic violence and homicide, saying the church and the community would be working toward providing education and other resources to protect against “any form of abuse that’s happening to the women that we love and that we nurture.”

“We must come together as a community as we stand against violence,” he said, adding: “Enough is enough.”

Also joining that call was Pastor Darron Edwards of United Believers Community Church in the Hickman Mills neighborhood of south Kansas City. He referenced a lesson from the book of Proverbs, saying criminal acts often occur in places or are carried out by people victims believe to be safe.

“Violence and abuse doesn’t respect boundaries. It enters into the lives of everyone, because it doesn’t respect age, gender, race or social class,” Edwards said, adding that the faith community was standing with Aisha Johnson and her family through the tragedy.

“We’re here for our Black queens. We’re here for our women,” Edwards said.