I wonder what we can glean from the deliberate avoidance of any description of the shooters or the other parties of the dispute.
I suspect it's because they're juveniles. Normally, their names and other pedigree information isn't released unless they will be tried as adults. That decision isn't usually made until the prosecutor moves to have them tried as adults and a judge grants that motion. Since one person was killed and a couple of dozen were injured, I'm sure the prosecutor will seek to try them as adults. It's pretty good bet that this shooting spree was street-gang stuff.
Pretty sure there were no long guns involved and all the damage was done with handguns. I also saw something I cannot confirm that two individuals are expected to be charged as adults.
It's interesting that the only charges filed against these two juveniles so far are weapons offenses and resisting arrest. No murder or assault charges have yet been filed. It may be that the police are still try to determine who fired the shots that killed the one woman and wounded the bystanders. It could be either or both of these juveniles, or it could be someone not yet in custody. As Petrozza's post shows, there was at least one AK-47 assault rifle on the scene. However, I don't believe the authorities have stated the type of weapon(s) that killed the one victim and injured the others. They also haven't stated just how many weapons were fired that day. The authorities have been pretty circumspect in what information they've released.
Where is that picture from and is there a caption or explanation with it? It appears to be labeled as coming from "X" but there are no other sources shown when the image is searched and no link to an article anywhere that I can find other than the Daily Mail. Some even said the "weapon" may have fallen out of the guy's sleeve when he was tackled - pretty tough to happen with a rifle and a long magazine.
2 juveniles have now been charged but just with gun related and resisting arrest charges while they figure everything else out. It is insane that multiple peoples lives have been destroyed due to what looks to be a beef between a couple of kids (and having teenage kids myself I feel sorry for the kids too as I can see how easy it is to happen as they don't have the greatest self control) - no point trying to debate gun culture on a US site but the difference between an issue settled with fists or even knives compared to having guns all over the place is pretty obvious (the scary/insane thing is that if you google "Kansas mass shooting" there are several fairly recent ones to choose from!)
Identities are kept secret but there is no precedent not to describe them unless it serves a purpose.
There's no legal legal requirement that the police release descriptive information in a juvenile case. We'll have to wait and see if there's a reason why so little information has been released so far. I'm curious to hear what pedigree information you think should have been released. Other than the age of the arrestees and the town they live in, I'm not sure there is any.
If a suspect is still at large, the police will usually release a physical description because the police want the public's help in locating the suspect. Here, both juveniles are already in custody.. In other cases, if the media publishes a physical description, it usually gets that information from the probable-cause affidavit or from observing the suspect at his first appearance in court, usually at a bail/detention hearing. Here, the probable-cause affidavit is sealed because it's a juvenile case and there haven't been any hearings yet that have been open to the media.
Two adults have been arrested in the Kansas City shooting and charged with felony murder. One of these adults fired the bullet that killed the female victim. Incidentally, both adult defendants were wounded in the shoot-out. Firearms charges remain pending against the two juveniles arrested last week, but the new story says further charges are expected. https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article285704546.html
