When I heard about the shocking shooting of KCUR reporter Aviva Okeson-Haberman, I initially accepted as plausible the theory espoused by many news outlets, including CBS News, that she was the victim of a “stray bullet.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how unlikely that was. A stray bullet would had to have been spectacularly stray. Think about it: One bullet traveling straight through a first-floor, bedroom window and striking a woman who was either sitting, standing or lying inside, close to the window. Plus, it was nighttime, and the bedroom light was almost certainly on.
I’ve since learned that Haberman, 24, was lying in bed reading. She was found in that position the afternoon of Friday, April 23, having been shot the night before.
Yesterday morning, I went over to 29th and Lockridge, near 27th and Benton, and did some reporting. I came away convinced that this was an intentional shooting. The bullet may or may not have been intended for Haberman, but it was almost certainly fired with intent to kill.
Yesterday, the New York Post published a story quoting a woman who lives in an apartment adjacent to Haberman’s as saying she believed the bullet was intended for her. The woman, 26-year-old Sadi Sumpter, told the Post she believes the shooting could have been a botched hit meant for her and arranged by her ex-boyfriend, whom she described as a drug addict and a convicted felon.
A KCPD spokesman declined comment on Sumpter or her allegations. The police department has only said “the round that struck her was fired from outside her apartment into her apartment.”
Dan Margolies, the KCUR reporter who wrote the station’s initial story about Haberman’s death, told me today he had not read the Post story and didn’t intend to. The Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, has a reputation for sensationalism, with fleeting attention to accuracy.
To me, Sumpter’s story sounds credible, but who knows?
Regardless, I want to show you what I turned up in my visit to the apartment building yesterday.
The apartment Haberman lived in was on the west side of a three-story, red-brick building with six large, two-bedroom apartments — three on each side of the building, each unit extending from the front of the building to the back. Here’s the building…
You’re looking at the west side of the building on Lockridge, which runs east-west. Haberman lived in the first-floor apartment on this, the west side, Her bedroom was at the back of the building, between the two dark, parked cars.
Sadi Sumpter lives across the hall, in the first-floor apartment on the east side. The alley (keep the alley in mind) runs between Haberman’s building and another apartment building (left), which faces Benton.
Here’s a closer look at Haberman’s bedroom windows.
The bullet that struck Haberman pierced the far-left window a few inches from the bottom. The window is about six feet from the ground-level sidewalk. You can’t tell it from the photo, but between the rocky ground and the sidewalk is a downward incline of a couple of feet. A person standing on the rocky patch would have a relatively clear view into the window. It would be much harder to get a clear view from the sidewalk.
Now, here is the bullet hole…You can see it at lower left, in the reflection of a nearby building.
There is a screen over the glass. It appeared to me that the hole in the screen (hard to see here) was slightly to the right of the hole in the glass. If that is the case, it would tend to indicate the shooter was standing at an angle, rather than shooting straight ahead.
Now, here’s the kicker. A woman who was standing in the stairwell of the building behind Haberman’s told me that when police were scouring the scene the day Haberman was found, a cone was placed in the alley, as if to indicate the presence of a shell casing. The cone, she said, was in a position that would have given shooter a clear shot into the apartment.
The woman, Saundra Napper, said: “I don’t think it was stray.”
No, it was not stray. This was intentional, and an innocent young woman, a budding journalistic star, is gone forever.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Jim, do you have any idea how aggressively KCPD is working this case?
I don’t know, but I would think all out.
It’s interesting that the New York Post had a reporter contact at least one neighbor.
I think that she would appreciate your reporting from the scene.
If you ever want a compadre on something like this in the future, please let me know.
This is a terribly sad story, but some really good reporting, by you and, yes,The Post. The Star seems to do a decent enough job on the who, what, when, and where aspects of the basic news story, but it’s the why and how that seem to be wanting.
The Star disappoints me more with each passing day. I don’t understand why they couldn’t have sent a reporter and photographer to the scene and gotten as good a story or better than mine. I was there about half an hour and talked to three people — one who pointed out the apartment, one who pointed out the bullet hole and the lady who told me about the cone. It was basic reporting, with the help of an Android phone.
Test
You’re in, mokanman.
Jim. Nice reporting. As in the STAR story, the presence of a loaded weapon should remove the words “stray” & “accidental” from all shooting reportage. These words remove or distance the culpability of the weapon carrier/owner. When a child has access to a loaded weapon in the home, the often, terrible results are not accidental.
Good to hear from you, Brian. I hope you and Carolyn are doing well…Good points about any discharging of weapons that injures or kills.
Great reporting Fitz. As for Margolies, KCUR is in no position to question anyone’s credibility and secondly, if he thinks The Post’s story is hinky perhaps he should contact a journalist with his concerns.
“Dan Margolies, the KCUR reporter who wrote the station’s initial story about Haberman’s death, told me today he had not read the Post story and didn’t intend to.”
This comes across as a reporter who’s upset that an outsider parachuted in and got details he didn’t. It’s like when a newspaper gets scooped and then refuses to cover it until a week or so later.
John and Tim — Dan’s a good friend and an outstanding reporter, but I am surprised at the delay in a follow-up story. I believe they are bringing in a non-staff member to do it, which is understandable because of the emotions involved. Aviva was a popular and beloved staff member.
I am eager to see if the Post is on the right track. Like I said, it’s a plausible theory in some respects. The biggest question mark about that story is how the ex-boyfriend or the “hit man,” if you will, got the wrong apartment. The ex-boyfriend had been to Sumpter’s apartment many times. Surely he would have pointed out the correct apartment. One other possibility: The hit man was an idiot.
What a tragedy.
If you were Sadi Sumpter wouldn’t you be looking for some place else to live?
It’s very difficult for people living on the edge to pick up and move. Not so much for people with substantial savings.