Two Missouri teens have been arrested for fatally shooting a beloved Irish chef who brought the community together with “his culinary creations” in front of his Kansas City restaurant.
Shaun Brady, 44, was taking out the trash at his eatery, dubbed Brady’s KC, on Wednesday when he saw several people loitering around parked cars out back, Kansas City Police Department Sgt. Phil DiMartino said Thursday, according to KCTV.
The cherished figure in Kansas City’s Irish community then confronted the group, which escalated into violence and led to Brady being fatally shot steps away from his restaurant, DiMartino said.
The group then fled the scene, but within an hour of the incident, police said they arrested “two juvenile male teen subjects” involved in the chef’s death, officials said.
The Kansas City Police Department also recovered the vehicle the teens are suspected of using in the crime.
The shooting was witnessed by several bystanders and was captured on security cameras from nearby businesses, DiMartino said.
The suspects — who have not been identified by law enforcement — have been charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and trying to steal a vehicle, a spokesman for the Jackson County Court said.
The investigation is ongoing.
The Post has reached out to the Kansas City Police Department for comment.
The Irish native’s love for food began when he was 15, working in a restaurant in his small hometown of Nenagh, about 100 miles outside the capital city of Dublin, according to the Kansas City Star.
Brady eventually met his wife, Kate, while she was traveling in Ireland from Witchita. The couple tied the knot in 2005 and then moved to Chicago in 2006 before settling in Kansas City over a decade ago.
The father of two worked as the executive chef at a downtown hotel before opening his restaurant, which he co-owns with Graham “Fox” Farris and is lovingly referred to as “Brady and Fox” in the community.
Brady’s death sent shockwaves throughout the City of Fountains, with top officials in the city left “heartbroken” over the killing.
“Like many in our community, I am heartbroken to learn of the death of Shaun Brady,” Kansas City’s Mayor Quinton Lucas wrote in a heartfelt post on Facebook Thursday.
“I have met him, laughed with him, heard just a bit of his and his family’s story, and was inspired by the business and the community he was building in Kansas City.”
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said she was “shocked and heartbroken” over the “senseless loss” of her family’s friend in a statement to KCTV.
“Shaun became a friend to my family several years ago… His personality was infectious, he was gregarious, warm and genuinely funny,” Baker wrote.
“Shaun was the kind of guy who would always jump in to help you – and ‘you’ meant anyone needing help. He was community. We are grieving for his family and offer our heartfelt condolences to them. And we promise that his loss will not be forgotten.”
The Kansas City Irish Fest Board of Directors, who often worked closely with Brady, called the Irish native “dear friend” and staple of KC’s Irish community in a Facebook statement.
“It was one of Shaun’s greatest gifts to bring people together with his culinary creations.”
The organization said they will hold a closed “Irish Breakfast to give those who knew and loved Shaun a chance to gather and remember him” this Sunday.
The Irish chef’s killing marks the 104th homicide in Kansas City so far this year, according to statistics provided by the Kansas City Police Department.
Last year, the city set a record high for homicides, with 185, The Kansas City Star reported.
Mayor Lucas wrote that Brady’s death is “more distress” knowing he was killed “due to violence arising once more in our community,” especially among juveniles, and will put pressure on youth engagement in his city in hopes of “reducing the flood of guns on our streets and available to our children.”
“We will keep working in all agencies for a safer City long term,” Lucas added.