The terms of sentencing issued to a Missouri teenager who has pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of Irishman Shaun Brady will not be made public.
The juvenile, identified in court by his initials, KH, accepted the charge of voluntary manslaughter in a hearing that took place in the juvenile Family Court Division of Jackson County Circuit Court, Kansas City, on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the 16th judicial district afterwards said that there will be no further court hearings on the killing of Mr Brady, who was shot dead outside the restaurant he owned in Kansas in August 2024.
The unprovoked shooting of the Tipperary native, who was a prominent member of the vibrant Irish community in Kansas City, caused widespread mourning and alarm over the escalating violent crime in the area. Mr Brady was fatally shot in the late afternoon of August 28th when he interrupted a group of youths attempting to steal a car parked outside Brady & Fox, the restaurant he co-owned.
In a court hearing last April, Mr Brady’s wife Kate and other members of his family watched as a video showed a number of teenagers arriving at the restaurant in a car which, it was later established, they had stolen. They were attempting to break into a Hyundai car belonging to Mr Brady, who happened upon them as he was bringing rubbish outside.
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A court report from that hearing described how Mr Brady kicked out at the stolen car as the occupants departed the scene. That vehicle then stopped and one of the occupants exited the car and fired several shots at the Irish man. Seven shell casings were recovered at the scene.
KH and another teenager were arrested in the days after the shooting but charges were dropped against the other teen late last year. The juvenile identified as KH faced charges of second-degree murder, the attempted theft of a vehicle and armed criminal action. But his defence successfully argued that he should be tried as a juvenile at that April hearing. His father told the court that “development goes a long way in life, and he hasn’t gotten that far”.
The killing occurred just days before the annual Irish Fest, one of the main events on the Kansas City tourist calendar and a celebration which Mr Brady helped to organise.
The manslaughter plea took place soon after Mr Brady was honoured at this year’s 23rd annual Irish festival in Kansas with the ‘Brady Brunch’, which the chef had made a popular Sunday morning feature of the programme. That event coincided with the release of the Shaun and Seamus Cookbook, which sold out within hours. All proceeds went to his family. Mr Brady is survived by his wife Kate, their children Seamus and Mary and his family in Nenagh.
