JENNINGS, Mo. — A man was killed and four other men were injured in a shooting Friday afternoon in Koeneman Park.
Police and paramedics responded shortly after 5 p.m. to a report of a shooting with multiple victims on the 2600 block of Shannon Avenue.
Sgt. Tracy Panus, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis County Police Department, confirmed that Terrance Lambert, 28, suffered from multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Four other men were taken to area hospitals for treatment of non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.
"It just happens and then nobody talks about it," said Michael Williams, who was playing basketball Saturday at the park. "It just goes up under the rug or under the sheets and it's just another day."
Williams was playing with friends with no trace of the shooting 24 hours earlier.
"I don't really see it but at the same time, St. Louis is a pretty crazy place all the time," Taylor said.
"People like me, we go to the park to have fun," Williams said. "What if their parents aren't around? Now they can't go outside and have fun anymore because now they have to worry about being shot or catching a stray bullet. My number one thing is definitely about the kids."
Dwayne Willis and Caleb Morrow were also playing basketball with Williams and Taylor. Both are unsure how to make the violence stop.
"It's something we can't control, but how long will it take for us to stop it?" Willis said. "I don't think it will ever happen. It's just really sad to me how our young people are getting taken away from stuff like this."
However, community leaders are trying to help end this constant cycle within hours of the Jennings Park shooting.
"We believe in boots-on-the-ground work with the families closest to the pain who have been impacted," said Larita Rice-Barnes, the executive director of Metro East Organizing Coalition.
Gun violence awareness advocates like Rice-Barnes and politicians gathered Friday night at Jennings City Hall to talk about how to save young people. During the interview, gunshots were heard in the background, temporarily stopping an interview with Precious Jones, the founder of Breaking Generational Poverty.
"At the rate we're going, we don't know what that looks like for our communities," Jones said as police sirens whirled by. "It's very heartbreaking for our communities, very heartbreaking."
Former Jennings mayor and state Rep. Yolonda Fountain Henderson said she's even more upset this happened at the park.
"I overheard a couple people saying they were ducking and we had an event that was about to take place, an art event," Henderson said. "It had to be canceled."
Jennings Mayor Gary Johnson is also frustrated by this latest shooting asking for community involvement.
"Don't wait until something happens to you," Johnson said. "Be proactive and get in the community. Maybe your involvement saves a life. Your involvement saves a situation."
State Sen. Angela Mosley and other gun violence awareness advocates are hosting a Stop the Gun Violence town hall on June 20 at 6 p.m. at West Side Missionary Baptist Church.
Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call 636-529-8210 or CrimeStoppers at 866-371-TIPS (8477).