‘He died protecting us’: Independence widow says husband was killed warding off attacker
As they took their marital vows last June, Juavvion “Jay” Bagsby promised to protect Kierra Turner and their children from harm.
The couple tied the knot after eight years together, settling in at their Independence home with their three young boys. He was a hardworking and dedicated man who loved to fish, take care of the dogs and be in the company of his family, Turner said.
Nearly two weeks ago, when she and the kids were assaulted by a stranger who jumped the fence and entered their yard, Turner says Bagsby kept the promise he made on their wedding day.
“He died protecting us,” Turner, 25, told The Star during a recent interview.
“Overall, he was a great man, he was a man of his word. He loved his family more than anything, I will stress that. You know, he loved us so much. Words can’t even describe it.”
Bagsby, 29, was fatally shot down the street from his home Sept. 29 in the 4200 block of South Osage Street. He died during a confrontation with a man who authorities say, unprovoked, had stabbed someone a few blocks away in Independence, then ran across Interstate 70 and trespassed through residential backyards.
The man, later identified by police as 28-year-old Tyler Rizer of Blue Springs, currently faces charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in Jackson County Circuit Court for the stabbing. He has not been charged in Bagsby’s killing or the wounding of a neighbor, who was also shot and critically injured.
A spokesman for the Jackson County prosecutor’s office said the investigation of the double shooting is ongoing.
The bizarre series of violent attacks Rizer is accused of began on Interstate 70.
The 28-year-old reportedly approached a stranger for a ride to a Target, saying his car was broken down. Doc Paton, the stabbing victim, told Kansas City station FOX4 that he obliged and offered to give Rizer a ride.
While Paton was driving on the highway, Rizer began acting odd and allegedly threatened Paton with a knife. Paton said he was stabbed after pulling onto the shoulder of the highway near Noland Road. He then ran to safety.
That same day, Turner said she was in her yard for maybe 15 or 20 minutes with her sons when Rizer jumped the fence and attacked them.
“Everything was OK, and then it wasn’t. I mean, I really can’t wrap my head around most of it, because it just was all happening so fast,” Turner said.
Turner told police she tried to get the kids inside, but Rizer grabbed her 3-year-old son by the neck and entered the enclosed patio. He lifted the boy off the ground, she said, and threatened to kill them.
She called her husband on her cellphone as Rizer grabbed her by the throat, leaving marks on her neck, and took her phone. Turner wrestled her sons away from him, she told police, as Rizer walked toward the front side of the house.
Bagsby returned home and, armed with a gun, confronted Rizer outside. Turner told her husband police officers were on the way. Then she heard gunshots.
Afterward, Rizer allegedly stole Bagsby’s car and drove off. He was later arrested after a crash in Kansas City, where he was accused of trying to carjack another person’s car.
As of Wednesday, Rizer was being held in the Jackson County jail on a $500,000 bond.
Turner says the family is adjusting day-by-day to the reality that Bagsby is gone. She is telling the children, who range in age from one year old to 5, that their father is in heaven now.
Before he died, Turner said Bagsby was working toward advancements in his profession as a truck driver. He was excited, she said, about learning to drive semi-tractor trailers and hoped to get an upgraded commercial driver’s license soon.
Recently, she said, he was paying greater attention to his health by visiting the gym. And the family was going to church more regularly as Bagsby, whom Turner described as a man of God, began to embrace his faith more intensely.
When they moved from Kansas City to Independence nearly two years ago, Turner said they picked the house for its big, beautiful yard in a place they felt would be safe. There was space for the kids and the dogs to run. Bagsby took up gardening there.
Now, down the street from the home where they made some of their happiest memories, sits a memorial at the place where Bagsby died.
The grieving family has received “tremendous” support from relatives and their church in Kansas City, Kansas, Turner said. But, as December approaches, she wonders how they will go about celebrating birthdays and holidays for the first time without Bagsby there.
She said the death of her husband has made her realize that tragedy strikes without warning.
“Cherish the ones that you have around you, because you never know,” Turner said. “Not in a million years.”
Family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses and other financial hardships in the wake of Bagsby’s death.
This story was originally published October 12, 2023 at 4:30 AM.
