Waldo and Brookside residents asking for action after crime spike

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One day after an Irish restaurant owner was shot and killed outside his business, leaders in the Waldo and Brookside neighborhoods want action from city and county leaders.

“How can we get the city, county, prosecutors, juvenile prosecutors, police, state, and federal resources together to solve this problem while we work towards longer-term solutions? It can’t be six, eight, or twelve months from now. It’s got to be now, and last night illustrated that,” said Sean Ackerson with the Southtown Council and Brookside Business Association.

He met with Jackson County legislators and Kansas City council members alongside Sean Anderson of the Waldo Business Association on Thursday afternoon to discuss what could be done.

“New AI camera systems, increased lighting, license plate cameras, you name it. We’re talking about it and trying to figure out how to pay for it,” said Anderson when asked what those discussions included.

The death of 44-year-old Shaun Brady, who co-owned “Brady & Fox” at 63 ^rd and Rockhill, comes two weeks after residents and business owners in the Waldo and Brookside neighborhoods held a public meeting with KCPD and Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Many in the audience that day said it’s not a matter of if but when someone would be killed due to the ongoing property crime.

“What we were able to do [that day] is hopefully bring some light to the challenges, but we’ve got now to move into the solutions,” said Ackerson.

Two teenage boys were arrested hours after Brady’s death. Jackson County Juvenile Court officials have charged one of them with second-degree murder, attempted stealing of a motor vehicle, and armed criminal action.

There will be a hearing to figure out if the juvenile suspect should be tried as an adult. He will appear in court on Friday at 9 a.m.

Prosecutors were quick to charge the teenager in the shooting, but other business owners have waited weeks for arrests to happen in other cases.

Ackerson said the people committing these crimes in the last few months know that there are limitations in what business owners can do to defend themselves.

“The same people that did what they did to Shaun [Brady] last night were emboldened by that. There’s a sense that we can do this. There’s no consequences, and if there are they’re not going to be severe enough to be life-altering. I think that’s heartbreaking, and that’s what we’ve been concerned about.”

Meanwhile, organizers of the Kansas City Irish Fest have launched a memorial fund in Brady’s memory . They’re hoping to raise $100,000, which will go to Brady’s wife and two children.

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