North Carolina native was fatally shot in KC. His family needs help to get his body home
Jeanette Brown says she tried to protect her son, who had sickle cell disease, his whole life, but she couldn’t stop the shooting that killed him in the spate of gun violence over Labor Day weekend in Kansas City.
A man called from her son’s girlfriend’s phone on Sept. 2 and said her son, 28-year-old Leroy ‘L.J.’ ‘Purkett, had been shot in the 300 block of Drury Avenue. He was transported to a hospital but died shortly after.
Brown could hear Purkett’s girlfriend’s sobs in the background, but she couldn’t process the news.
Purkett moved to Kansas City with his girlfriend about three years ago. The rest of his family still lives in North Carolina, and haven’t been able to see his body since his death, adding to their disbelief.
“I still don’t believe that he’s gone because he’s not here. I haven’t seen him,” Brown said. “It’s like, in my mind I’m thinking that he’s still here. I try not to talk about it because if I talk about it, then it will seem like it’s real.”
The shooting
Detectives with the Kansas City Police Department believe an argument led to the shooting, but no persons of interest have been taken into custody.
Brown and Purkett’s brother Jaquan James were shocked to hear Purkett was involved in an argument that turned violent. They say he was a quiet person who wasn’t confrontational.
Purkett’s girlfriend told the family conflicting stories of what led to the shooting, James said.
Most recently, she told Brown that a neighbor accused the couple of stealing a dog they found under their car one day. They returned the dog, but the man returned and threatened Purkett and his girlfriend, leading her to call police.
When Purkett returned home, his girlfriend told Brown the neighbor returned and shot him in the back of the head.
His family isn’t sure what to believe.
A few weeks ago, James said the girlfriend called family and told them Purkett had overdosed on muscle relaxers. They called every hospital in the Kansas City area, looking for more information. Eventually, Purkett called them back to let them know he had returned from the hospital after a sickle cell crisis, taken medicine and fallen asleep.
“It made me think, why is this girl going around telling everybody he’s dead before she knows for sure,” James said. “You just don’t say stuff like that until you know for sure.”
The family started a GoFundMe in hopes of raising enough money to return Purkett’s body to North Carolina and hold a funeral. Between the transportation, a funeral and burial, it will cost thousands of dollars that the family doesn’t have to lay Purkett to rest.
‘A hard pill to swallow’
As a baby, Purkett was diagnosed with sickle cell disease, and Brown was worried often about his health and safety.
For the most part, he stayed at home and played video games. Brown let him play with others sometimes, but didn’t want him participating in rougher games and sports that could hurt him.
Every so often, Purkett would experience a sickle cell crisis, when blood flow is blocked to part of the body, causing pain that can last anywhere from several hours to several days. During his sickle cell crises, Purkett would say his whole body ached, and he couldn’t move.
As Purkett got older, his complications seemed to worsen. He fell ill more often and stayed in the hospital for longer periods. It was hard for Purkett to hold onto a job because he’d miss so much work while being treated.
“He had a very unfair life, and then this happened” James said. “It leaves a hard pill to swallow.”
His sickness forced him to drop out of Elizabeth City State University — where he studied art in hopes of one day designing video games — because he missed too many school days while in the hospital, James said.
Afterward, he moved to Greenville, North Carolina to be near James and his family. They’d have him over for dinners and tried to cheer him up during a hard time in his life.
Purkett took a job with Amazon when he first moved to Kansas City, and he seemed happy, Brown said. He talked to his mother every other week.
But about a year later, Purkett hurt his hip while trying to escape a dog that chased him after a delivery.
The injury kept him out of work for years.
When finances were tight for Purkett and his girlfriend, Brown sent them money to help. She tried to convince Purkett to apply for disability benefits, but he wanted to work instead.
This past February, he had hip replacement surgery and seemed depressed that he still couldn’t return to a steady job.
Originally, his employers at Amazon said he could return to work for three days a week, Brown said. Later, they told him he would only be scheduled for one day each week.
Purkett’s girlfriend often mentioned the burden she had to handle all their expenses, James said. The family tried convincing Purkett to move back home with family instead, but he refused.
‘All I’m really asking for’
Now, James and his family are hoping the person who killed Purkett is brought to justice.
His mother has had to deal with a number of hard losses throughout her life. Brown’s mother was killed, her youngest son died in a house fire and now she must contend with the trauma of a son dying to gun violence.
If anything, he said his mother deserves answers.
“She deserves … some type of justification for this,” James said. “That’s all I’m really asking for.”
The incident was the 137th homicide in Kansas City this year, according to data tracked by The Star and one of four killings in two days over the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Police ask anyone with information to call the homicide unit at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-8477.
This story was originally published September 14, 2023 at 12:00 AM.
