Date night ended in road rage shooting, leaving KC-area nurse fighting for life
It was date night in Kansas City on Sunday when JayLee Gross got a phone call from a friend who was stranded with a flat tire. She and her boyfriend, Damon Culter, went to help, got it fixed, and were on their way back to their home in Leavenworth when the unthinkable happened.
As they merged onto U.S. 71 Highway, a vehicle going fast in the right lane swerved around them. The car got in front of them and started slamming on its brakes, said Bradley Gross, JayLee’s father.
When Culter switched lanes to get away, the other car matched their lane changes and kept braking, seemingly trying to cause a wreck, Bradley Gross said. When Culter got back in the slow lane to get around the car, JayLee flipped the other driver off.
The other car then took the 31st Street exit, where the driver fired five to seven shots at JayLee and Culter’s vehicle, with one bullet hitting JayLee in the head.
“We’re not doing OK, and we can’t act like we are. Because, you know, no parent should ever have to experience this,” Bradley Gross said.
JayLee, 19, is now fighting for her life at Truman Medical Center, University Health, using a breathing machine and battling brain swelling, her father said.
Police say an aggravated assault investigation is underway after officers responded around 12:30 a.m. Monday to the hospital. Police were notified that a shooting victim was being transported to a hospital by a private car after another caller reported the sound of gunfire near 31st Street and 71 Highway.
Capt. Jake Becchina, a police spokesman, said in an email Friday that no one was in custody yet but detectives were “making headway.”
Bradley Gross said detectives have been unable to provide the family much information as the investigation progresses. They told him they have “some strong leads, but nothing is definite.”
He said detectives initially told him that cameras around 71 Highway were not working, but he pressed them to find surveillance, showing them active KC Scout cameras in the area.
JayLee’s love for nursing
Bradley Gross said his daughter hasn’t had an easy life. She suffered respiratory issues right after she was born, and was bullied in school. But her circumstances never damaged her passion for caring for others, Bradley Gross said.
JayLee works full time at a nursing home in Tonganoxie, Kansas, while attending St. Mary’s University in Leavenworth. She’s also on the school’s bowling team.
Bradley Gross spoke with pride Saturday about his daughter’s accomplishments, including how she completed several college courses by age 17.
“My daughter is truly somebody that spent the last four years of her life giving,” Bradley Gross said.
Bradley Gross said his family is shaken up by the shooting, asking themselves why it happened and leaning on prayers.
‘Loss of love for each other’
Saturday was the first day he left the hospital since JayLee was admitted. He took another daughter to softball practice, where, in a phone call with The Star, he talked about the need for people to slow down. Not just their speeds on the highway, but with their time, he said.
“I think we all just need to slow down and realize how short life is,” Bradley Gross said. “We’re always in a hurry. And where you’re going is never going anywhere.”
Bradley Gross said that, of course, he wants justice for what happened. He hopes police find the person who chose bullets over patience. And he urges anyone with information to come forward.
But he also wants people to consider why and how he feels that this happened, he said.
“As a community, I think that we’ve lost the sense of love for each other. I think that we’ve lost the sense of respect for each other across the board,” Bradley Gross said.
He said the best way for people to help the family right now is taking that moment to slow down, and praying for his daughter’s healing.
“We just want to make sure that our daughter is not a statistic and doesn’t fall through the cracks,” he said.
