Laurie Whisler’s cigarette trembled between her fingers as she looked at the wreckage at the Family Dollar. Dressed in a gray shirt and beanie despite the sweltering Kansas City heat, she stood right outside the doors of the Valentine Apartments, bent over her walker and weeping.

Her long-term boyfriend, Larry Banks, had just died when the dollar store building off in midtown KC partially collapsed Sunday afternoon.

The Kansas City Fire Department responded to the reported building collapse in the 3700 block of Broadway Boulevard just after 2:45 p.m. Sunday. When crews arrived, they discovered part of the front facade of the Family Dollar building had collapsed.

“He would’ve been alive if they would’ve gotten to him,” Whisler said. “They got to that lady first, didn’t even try to help him. Didn’t even try.”

Just minutes before, Whisler and Banks, who she said was in his late 60s, were prepping for their relaxing afternoon. His TV and coffee were left on for their expected return, she said.

In the Family Dollar, Whisler was at the cashier buying cigarettes when she heard the precurser to the collapse.

“Like a crackling, a big crackling noise. And next thing we know, the whole thing just fell down,” she said.

Whisler was trapped inside the Family Dollar for at least 15 minutes with an employee and watched as emergency responders rendered aid to a woman outside, mere feet away from where Banks was. She banged on the window, trying to draw attention to him.

That woman was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, but remains in stable condition, according to Michael Hopkins, a spokesperson for the KCFD. Two others were treated with injuries at the scene but refused further medical attention.

Good Samaritans witness collapse

Kristel Smith was visiting her mother in the Valentine Apartments building next door when her five-year-old told her the building had collapsed. They had just left the building 15 minutes before and had noted previously that the inside of the building was damaged, Smith said.

“I ran downstairs instantly and I was praying it wasn’t a worker,” she said. “I was praying there wasn’t nobody under there, but I just knew that once this outside fell that the inside would be falling too.”

Another witness, Charles Ochlech, came out of the Family Dollar and was just about to go back in he heard the crash and saw the roof fall.

“Immediately everyone was taking the woman out, but nobody saw that there was a man in the middle of the rubble,” he said. “I could barely see the top of his head.”

Ochlech started to dig him out with the help of others when police told them to get away from the wreckage, he said, since the building was unstable.

Ciara Brown and her girlfriend were just about to walk into the Family Dollar when the entryway collapsed. The two helped in trying to dig Banks out, and Brown said she saw he was still breathing at the time. The female victim, she said, was screaming and had a brick on her head.

Banks’ injuries were graphic, Brown said, and she had to take a step back.

“That was too much for me,” she said, noting that looking at his legs alone, she knew he wouldn’t be walking again.

Police were on the scene at the point, and Brown said officers were telling her and others to back away before giving aid to the woman. And when no aid was rendered to Banks, Brown said she and her girlfriend went to police, pleading for help, but were told he was already dead.

“It just made me cry even more,” she said.

When asked about when the last inspection on the building was, Michael Hopkins, the KCFD spokeperson, said he didn’t have any information at the moment. He said the KCFD would have to look into its records to examine if there were any previous calls about the structural integrity of the building.

The Kansas City Police Department is investigating the collapse since there was a fatality, which Hopkins said is standard protocol.

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