The 15-year-old boy charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Irish chef Shaun Brady suffers from mental problems brought on by chemotherapy and was failed by the juvenile justice system, the teen’s father said Wednesday.
K.H., who is believed to be the driver of the car stolen during the Brady shooting, had his handcuffs removed and was allowed to hug his father after a detention hearing in Jackson County family court. Judge Jennifer Phillips ordered him kept in secured detention at the Family Justice Center.
“You’re fine?” his father asked his son after they embraced. The teen nodded yes. His younger brother, slouched in the front row of the courtroom with his arms crossed, refused to hug him.
Phillips also ordered the second juvenile accused in the case, 17-year-old L.M., to remain in detention on Wednesday.
Although both boys are charged with second-degree murder, L.M.’s attorney has argued that his crime is lesser because he was a passenger — not the shooter — in the car the two are accused of stealing. Both are also charged with felony attempted theft of a motor vehicle and armed criminal action.
L.M.’s attorney asked that he be released to home detention, arguing that he still lives at home with his family and attends public school. Phillips denied the request.
When asked if he wanted to hug his parents, who were sitting with him at the defense table, L.M. said no and rushed out, his leg shackles clicking, while a sheriff’s deputy ran to catch up to him.
Both boys face December hearings to determine if they will be charged as adults.
The teens were arrested by Kansas City Police quickly after the August 28 shooting. Brady was trying to stop the two from stealing a car about 5:15 p.m. near his Brookside restaurant, Brady & Fox, at 63rd Street and Rockhill Road, police said.
The shooting of the popular restaurateur, along with a raft of car thefts and other property crimes by armed teens this summer, shocked the city, the Irish community and the Brookside neighborhood. It came just six months after the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Parade on February 14 that killed one and injured another 24 people. Three teens and three other young men are charged in the Super Bowl case.
K.H.’s father said his son was diagnosed with Langerhans cell histiocytosis, a rare cancer-like disorder that causes lesions in the body, when he was five years old. He underwent three years of chemo, the father said, which severely affected his mental and cognitive functions.
KCUR isn’t publishing the father’s name to protect the identity of his juvenile son. Juvenile court does not release the names of minors or information about many charges.
His father, who had custody from ages 1 through 7, said he had the boy in a developmental educational system, kept him on medications and made sure he attended doctor’s appointments.
Though the father tried to intervene in the boy’s life, his behavior got worse after he attended an alternative school, he said.
“That was it. It was over,” the father said. “He’s got the heart but wasn’t taught to use it. He has a sincere heart.”
K.H.’s father also blamed the juvenile criminal justice system, which he said failed to give the boy the right discipline after his run-ins with the law and failed to treat his mental illness.
“They overlook the youth,” he said. “They don’t think mental health is significant.”
