‘Bring more awareness’: Family of man killed in 2021 holds neighborhood block party

Aarón Torres
·2 min read

Myeisha Wright stood on the front balcony of her family’s two-story house on Olive Street, nine months after her younger brother was killed in front of the home.

Wright, 36, organized a neighborhood cleanup and block party Saturday so people could remember Tarey Johnson, who was shot and killed near the home on August 28, 2021, one of the 157 homicides in Kansas City in 2021. He was 28.

The homicide remains unsolved. The family, Wright said, doesn’t have closure and she hoped the event Saturday would bring in tips.

Wright described her younger brother as a family man, someone who loved spending time with his two boys and two girls. His children range in age from nine to 12.

The house on Olive Street has been in their family since the 1930s, when their great-grandmother bought the home. The family has lived in the neighborhood since and watched it change throughout the decades.

Wright has been organizing the annual cleanups for 10 years as a way to bring community members together. Johnson loved them, she said.

Several banners with Johnson’s photo hung from fences in the neighborhood. Wright and other family members also wore shirts with his picture.

“A lot of kids in the neighborhood have always come here, a lot of kids were raised here on this block and they kind of knew us as a giving family, a loving family that always provided shelter, food and opportunities,” Wright said.

Saturday’s cleanup also included a block party, with bounce houses, water slides and food.

This will be the first one without Johnson.

Tarey Johnson was fatally shot August 28, 2021, in front of his house in the 3000 block of Olive Street. The homicide remains unsolved and his family hopes an arrest will be made.
Tarey Johnson was fatally shot August 28, 2021, in front of his house in the 3000 block of Olive Street. The homicide remains unsolved and his family hopes an arrest will be made.

Kansas City officers were first called on reports of gunfire a few blocks away near the intersection of 33rd Street and Wabash Avenue, police said. While officers were canvassing the area, they were called to a shooting at 31st and Olive streets.

Johnson was found with multiple gunshot wounds. He died after being taken to a hospital.

His killing happened more than two decades after his father was fatally shot six blocks away in 1995. That killing has never been solved, Wright said.

Wright remains in contact with Kansas City police and urges anyone with information about Johnson’s death to contact police.

Anyone with information can call the homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or make an anonymous report to the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.