‘Gone forever’: Family of Raytown homicide victim mourn his death, find joy in his memory

The text message came on a recent Sunday evening, around 6 p.m. Sixteen-year-old Raegan said her younger sister received the four-word message that popped suddenly into her phone: “Oh, Jaden got shot.”

Just like that, straightforward and blunt. The two sisters were sitting in their room waiting for dinner when they received the news that changed their world.

The text was from a young woman who was involved with Raegan’s older brother Jaden. The youngest sister, 15, handed her phone to Raegan, who dialed the number from which the text was sent. That young woman answered on the other end, her voice trembling. Raegan could barely make out her words, but what she did understand shook her.

This much was clear: “They’re saying he didn’t make it.”

Jaden Brown, 20, was shot and killed hours earlier on Oct. 1 at 61st Street and Raytown Road, according to Raytown Police. Brendon Fisher, 19, was also killed in the double homicide that afternoon. The case remains under investigation, according to police.

Requests for updates on the case have gone unanswered by police. There’s been no word of arrests or subjects of interest in the case.

On Thursday, eleven days after the killing, the Brown family is still awaiting answers, yet another household grappling with gun violence in the Kansas City metro.

“In Kansas City, there are a lot of homicides. There’s always somebody dying over little stuff,” said Raegan, a junior in high school.

Louise Terry, Brown’s grandmother and guardian, said she moved to Kansas City from Blue Springs in 2020 and wanted to leave, but stayed because her grandchildren didn’t want to switch schools. But she’s watched other families go.

“It’s just ridiculous. I don’t know if it will ever get better or not, but a lot of people are moving because of this one reason,” said Terry, 65.

‘A real person with a good heart’

Terry and her other grandchildren spent Thursday night around a kitchen table in their Kansas City apartment, trying to remember the good times with Brown. His social media persona — sometimes posing with guns, Raegan said — belied the humor and kindness he extended to his family, they said.

“My brother and the lifestyle he put on, he was in the streets, but behind the pictures he was a real person with a good heart,” Raegan said. She said, for example, he always offered her advice and support when she had guy trouble.

“Before anything else, Jaden was my brother, that was our brother, and her grandson,” she said, gesturing toward Terry. “He was a person and now that’s gone forever.”

Brown had gotten his GED and was about to start working at Taco Bell, the family said, a job that might have allowed him to do what he loved. He cooked with Ariana, 15, who said he made a delicious Cajun shrimp alfredo without a recipe.

To Melaina, 11, Brown was the big brother who mesmerized her as he played video games.

“He was funny,” Cassidy, 9, shouted over her grandmother and older sisters.

Elijah, 13, never came out of his bedroom as his sisters and grandmother laughed and reminisced. He was too upset after losing his only brother, they said.

“Now he’s stuck with all these sisters,” Reagan said, trying to lighten the mood. That’s what Brown would have done, Terry said. He was the silly one, the class clown of the household.

Terry remembered the countless times she went grocery shopping with Brown. Her mission was to quickly get in and out of the store; his mission was to make her laugh.

“He’d play around the store and sometimes I’d act like I was ignoring him,” Terry said, smiling.

At home, Brown would sometimes appear suddenly with a scarf wrapped around his curly hair, wearing a large shirt and mimicking her appearance and mannerisms from head to toe.

“You’d sit there minding your own business and look up and there he is. He played around a lot. He could be serious, but he just loved to see people happy,” she said.

Terry said she is still waiting for information from the police about how her grandson was killed that Sunday afternoon. She is also questioning whether to finally move out of Kansas City.

“I should’ve moved when I had planned to,” she said. “This makes me think more of what I’m gonna do in the future.”

This story was originally published October 14, 2023 at 11:09 AM.