‘It’s ignorance what happened.’ Family thinks teen shot at party was defending friend
The family of an 18-year-old girl who was shot and killed at a Warrensburg party last week believes that she may have been trying to intervene in an argument when she was shot.
“If she didn’t have anything to do with her fight, she would’ve been long gone, but because she was standing up for what she thought was right I think that’s what kept her there,” said her aunt, Jaime Lakey.
Maliyah Siddys Lakey was shot and killed on Aug. 1. Two men, 25-year-old Evan Lanigan and 28-year-old Christian Harrison, were charged in connection to her death.
According to charging documents, several people began arguing at a large party and two guns were waved. Lanigan and Harrison allegedly moved to the porch where several people had gathered and shots were fired. Lakey was shot in the back and killed, and two others were injured.
Lakey’s aunt and her mother, Somer Lakey, said Maliyah Lakey was not shy about speaking her mind. If she believed something or someone was wrong she would say something, and she was fiercely loyal to her friends and family.
“She was bossing me around telling me what I was going to do before she even came out of me,” Somer Lakey said. “She always spoke for herself or for someone who she was close to or cared about.”
Maliyah Lakey lived with her mother when she was young but moved in with her grandfather and then Jaime Lakey when she was 12 after her mother was incarcerated.
She was an easy person to love, her family said, and was always the first person to crack a joke or try and lighten the mood. From the time she was young, her aunt said, Maliyah Lakey had a “queen mentality.” She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get others to help her get it.
As she grew up, Maliyah Lakey formed a strong bond with her mother.
“I was the only one who knew how to approach her with anything and she could come to me with anything,” Somer Lakey said.
Her aunt, Jaime Lakey, said their relationship was up and down. About two years ago, Maliyah Lakey moved out on her own after finishing high school.
Maliyah Lakey was gifted with makeup and was seeking ways to pursue that as a career, but she also worked at Expanding Horizons, a supportive living space for people with disabilities.
Jaime Lakey said she would try to teach her niece life lessons but eventually realized Maliyah Lakey would learn best through experience.
“Until she faces that challenge she’s not going to hear what I have to say,” Jamie Lakey said.
After talking that through, she said, their relationship improved. The last time they spoke, they both said “I love you,” Jaime Lakey said.
“I am completely satisfied with where our relationship ended,” she said.
Jaime and Somer Lakey both said they have no ill will for the men charged in Maliyah Lakey’s death. They want them to learn from what happened.
Somer Lakey said that she believes her daughter died for a reason, though she doesn’t know what that is yet.
“I feel like Maliyah sacrificed her life to save so many people,” she said. “It’s senseless. It’s ignorance what happened and it happens daily in so many places.
“You take a risk even carrying a gun but you take a bigger risk pulling the gun. I don’t think they realize 100% that forever means forever.”
Maliyah Lakey had a knack for making people happy, Somer Lakey said. She hopes her death can somehow lead to more love and less ignorance and hate.
Moving forward, Somer Lakey said, she wants to celebrate her daughter’s life and not mourn her loss.
“She made a big impact on a lot of people and still is,” she said. “The only sadness I feel is knowing I’m going to be stuck on this earth without her.”
Gun violence will be the subject of a new, statewide journalism project The Star is undertaking in Missouri this year in partnership with the national service program Report for America and sponsored in part by Missouri Foundation for Health. As part of this project, The Star will seek the community’s help.
To contribute, visit Report for America online at reportforamerica.org.
The Star’s Andrea Klick contributed to this story.
This story was originally published August 8, 2020 at 2:42 PM.
