‘My best friend’: Sister mourns man shot and killed Friday by Kansas City police officer
Eboney Allmon knows her son will be processing trauma for years after he saw his uncle and a family friend fatally shot by a Kansas City police officer while he was riding in the friend’s car Friday.
Allmon rushed to the scene after she heard her brother might have been hurt in the shooting. There, she saw the van driven by Kristen Fairchild, her brother’s friend, and a white sheet.
A few hours later, she learned her brother died at the scene. His friend was taken to the hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries and died. Her 20-year-old son was shot in the head and was also taken to the hospital. Now, he’s recovering at home, she said.
Officials have released few details of the shooting Friday that killed 42-year-old Marcell Nelson and 42-year-old Kristen Fairchild and involved a Kansas City police officer.
Around 8:55 p.m., a Kansas City police officer called for assistance at 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard, where responding officers were told shots had been fired, according to a news release from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Police found six people at the scene, including the officer. Three people – Nelson, Fairchild and Allmon’s son – appeared to have been shot, and a firearm was recovered from the scene, the highway patrol said.
As part of an agreement between Kansas City police and MSHP, the highway patrol investigates all shootings involving police.
‘Too much trauma’
Earlier that day, Allmon said her son asked Nelson to pick him up from a pool after he’d gone swimming. They were on their way to McDonald’s before the shooting.
Now, following that fatal night, Allmon worries for her son. She hopes he doesn’t blame himself for Nelson and Fairchild’s deaths.
So far, she hasn’t asked him what happened the night of the shooting. Allmon wants her son to have the time to process everything on his own. His well-being is her first priority, she said.
“I think that’s too much trauma for a 20-year-old Black male to process, and I don’t want him feeling like that’s all I care about because it’s not,” Allmon said. “I’m blessed to have him here.”
Allmon also doesn’t expect her son to know everything that happened that evening. She pointed out he wouldn’t have seen everything after being shot in the head and fearing for their lives, she said.
But Allmon wants answers. She expects to meet with a state prosecutor soon, and wants to see security footage from the nearby McDonald’s to see who started shooting and why.
‘My best friend’
In 2020, Allmon’s father passed from COVID-19, and her brother knew she was struggling. So she said he moved from Joplin to live with Allmon and provide for her family by working as a forklift driver and in other warehouse jobs so that she could pursue a degree in social work.
Nelson also has five kids of his own between ages 8 and 27, to whom he provided what he could, his sister said.
Some of the kids live in Texas with their mother. They know about Nelson’s death. They’re processing the loss as best as they can right now, Allmon said, but it will take time.
She last saw Nelson Thursday night, when he came home from work tired and ready to eat, as usual. He chowed down on a plate of chicken and rice. Fairchild, who visited a few times a week, was heading over to watch a movie. The next morning, Allmon slept in and didn’t get to see her brother sip his daily cup of black coffee and go to work.
Allmon’s brother was a “vibrant” person, she said. Every night, he spent time playing and talking with her kids and grandkids. Even though he was four years younger than Allmon, she said Nelson wanted to protect her.
“He was my best friend,” Allmon said. “We talked and laughed about everything. We were those siblings that didn’t argue.”
Fairchild, Allmon said, was “a beautiful soul.” When Allmon was tired, she’d help cook or do laundry for Nelson. On weekends, she’d bring snacks for Nelson and the kids while he mowed the lawn and help barbecue in their front yard.
Recently, she let Allmon borrow a carpet cleaner and bought her a plant just because she knew Allmon loved them.
“It touched my heart because she didn’t have to do that,” Allmon said. “Her obligation wasn’t to me.”
As the investigation continues, Allmon said she wants justice for her brother. While officials haven’t released further details of the shooting, she hopes there is reform within police departments so that officers use other, non-fatal methods to deter threats.
“Something has to give,” she said, “and killing is not the answer.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2023 at 5:14 PM.
