Teen Realizes His Choices Are Crucial To Determining How Much ‘More’ He Will Have

Like any teenager, Sebastian ought to have a whole lot of life ahead of him, but the Kansas City high school student realizes how much “more” he’ll have is going to depend on the choices he makes.

He’s lucky, at 16, to still be alive, and Sebastian knows it: “I trusted the guy I got the pills from. He showed me a script, and I thought they were only [Percocet].”

The day before his 14th birthday, Sebastian overdosed after ingesting one fentanyl-laced pill and half of another. First responders spent 45 minutes reviving him; they found another six pills in his possession.  The Kansas City Police submitted a social services referral for Sebastian through COMBAT’s Striving To Reduce Violence In Neighborhoods (STRiVIN’) initiative. That submission led to him receiving counseling at the Mattie Rhodes Center, the STRiVIN’ hub in Kansas City’s historic Northeast.

“That police officer saw that NARCAN might have saved his life, but that [Sebastian] was going to need help to change his life,” points out Mattie Rhodes Center Manager of Public Safety Molly Manske. “That referral brought us into his life, and he needed us even more than ever at the end of 2023.”

Sebastian nearly lost his life again in a 2023 shooting. “I only heard one shot,” he recalls. “I don’t know if the same bullet that hit me killed my friend.”

» SEBASTIAN’S FULL STORY

‘I’m thankful for my life—to just be alive.’

2024 Community Impact Report

The above articles were originally published in COMBAT's 2024 Community Impact Report. While the report did focus extensively on the STRiVIN' social services referral program, other highlights included the following:

• A veteran law enforcement officer´s perspective on the illegal switches that turn semi-automatics into “machine guns,” resulting in dozens of shell casings now commonly being left behind at crime scenes: “There are those with no training and who care little about the harm they might inflict using these switches to spray bullets around. This is what we´re up against.”

• Missouri ranks among the states with the highest firearm homicide rates in the United States as The Facts & The Stats reflect the scope of gun violence on a local, state and national level.

• COMBAT continues to be an essential source of funding for local law enforcement and the courts—and for more than 90 Prevention and Treatment programs offering services to thousands at more than 400 locations across Jackson County.

» DOWNLOAD THE REPORT FROM JACKSONCOUNTYCOMBAT.COM

Through COMBAT, we are not just responding to crime, we are preventing future crime at the same time.