Mourning Shaun Brady, east Brookside business owners concerned about rising crime
Wednesday night’s fatal shooting of Irish chef and restaurant owner Shaun Brady sent shockwaves through the east Brookside business district, where employees and business owners have developed a close-knit community.
Brady, 44, was the co-owner of Brady & Fox, a popular Irish restaurant which opened at 63rd Avenue and Rockhill Road in 2022. He was fatally shot around 5:18 p.m. Wednesday when he went to take out the trash behind his restaurant and became involved in a confrontation with several juveniles gathered around a car.
Brady & Fox closed indefinitely Thursday, with some people leaving flowers outside the restaurant doors in tribute to Brady.
For some residents, Brady’s death reflects a troubling rise in violent crime, particularly involving vehicles and property in east Brookside in recent months.
In the two years that Gavin Cruse has worked at Brookside Wine & Spirits, the store has been broken into three times, Cruse said.
Cruse was behind the counter at Brookside Wine & Spirits, which is down the street from Brady & Fox, when a group of people drove their vehicle through the storefront last year.
“It was a chaotic moment,” Cruse said.
Cruse said he was shocked to find out about Brady’s death early Thursday afternoon.
“I’m still kind of processing that,” Cruse said. “He was a part of the neighborhood. He came here often.”
Brady’s death has also hit the Kansas City Irish and restaurant communities hard, with the chef’s popular Irish Breakfast event canceled in his memory and dozens of residents sharing fond recollections online.
One employee at Grow, a hair salon about two blocks from Brady & Fox, was among those taking the day off to mourn, said Grow owner Molly Boyer.
“Hearing about what happened yesterday was super disappointing and sad,” Boyer said. “I’ve never felt unsafe over here.”
Boyer said she was glad to learn that two arrests had been made in connection with Brady’s death. Two teenage boys were arrested about an hour after the shooting, according to Kansas City police. One was charged with second-degree murder, felony attempted vehicle theft and armed criminal action in Jackson County family court Thursday.
“I think that [police] are doing the best that they can, but I truly just don’t understand what’s going on around here,” Boyer said. “Crime has gone up a bit in the last few months and I don’t know what’s bringing that on.”
But Cruse said after his experiences at Brookside Wine & Spirits, he has found police response to the east Brookside business district generally ineffective, with a misplaced focus on unhoused residents.
“It’s not the homeless encampments that are being raided frequently,” Cruse said. “It’s people coming into this place and leaving with stuff, or lives.”
Grow is owned by the same landlord as several other businesses near 63rd and Rockhill, including Brady & Fox, Boyer said. Her lease, which began in June 2020, includes contracted building security. She wasn’t sure if the same is true for other tenants.
“I think a lot of people don’t know that [hiring security] is an option,” Boyer said. “Having those resources being more well-known would be helpful.”
Security at Grow is also managed by Ruby, an inquisitive and enthusiastic pitbull mix.
“[My landlord] is typically really great about everything,” Boyer said. “We have security for the building…I feel safe over here, but there’s also a reason why I have my dog here all the time.”
Boyer said she’s not sure when she began noticing a rise in crime around her salon. Employees who live near Grow and walk to work regularly carry whistles, pepper spray and other deterrents, she said.
Cruse said that some of his friends and colleagues have experienced vehicle and property crime.
“There’s a lot of car break-ins going on,” Cruse said. “Where guns are being taken outside of bars.”
Multiple instances of theft, vandalism and assault near the east Brookside business corridor in the last several months has also made it more difficult for store owners to get good retail insurance, Cruse said.
“There’s no way they can get that money back,” Cruse said.
Residents and business owners in Brookside and the nearby Waldo neighborhood have appealed to city staff and police in recent weeks, reporting an upswing in theft, vandalism and violence.
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said Thursday that police patrol volume has been increased in Brookside and Waldo recently in response to the increase in crime.
“We’ve got too much crime. We got too much property crime,” Lucas told reporters Thursday, responding to news of Brady’s death. “I won’t sugarcoat it. We are not where we need to be. But that does not mean there aren’t police officers out working hard; there aren’t prosecutors out working hard.”
Brady is survived by his wife, Kate, and two young children. Nearly 300 people have already donated to a fundraiser supporting his family, raising just over $19,000 as of Thursday evening.
The Star’s Robert A. Cronkleton contributed reporting.
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 7:25 PM.
