For as much as this photoblog and my own collection of pictures are KC-centric in one way or another, it’s logical not just to illustrate only the up-to-date seven story buildings and whatever other pleasantries reside here – there’s also the abnormally high murder rate per capita that the urban core of KCMO has to deal with year after year. This past weekend on early Sunday morning, John Paul Garcia was murdered without any evident purpose at Mercier and Avenida Cesar Chavez in the Westside.

More facts of the situation are detailed in a Channel 4 video. A part of the video I thought was especially interesting was when Channel 4 reporter Eric Burke observed that this gathering was seemingly the biggest turnout he has seen for all the post-homicide vigils he has covered in this city over the years. If I had actual hard statistics in front of me I would do some analysis, but I’ll make do as best I can and say that random homicides are rare enough in this section of the city that one wonders what’s transpiring minute by minute in the concentrated parcels of homicide on the East Side of Kansas City. It seems like the blunt but factual conclusion is that homicides start to feel more part of the routine if you’re stuck around them long enough.

The Mattie Rhodes Center’s Latino Advocacy Taskforce organized this gathering on Wednesday evening, Aug. 11, 2010.