Kansas City’s Irish community is devastated after a beloved chef was shot and killed outside his restaurant.
Shaun Brady, 44, co-owner of Irish restaurant Brady & Fox, was taking out trash behind his restaurant around 5:18 p.m. Wednesday when he was confronted by a group of teenagers standing around a vehicle.
Witnesses said Brady was trying to prevent one of them from getting into a vehicle when he was shot. FOX 4 KC reports.
“His death is a loss to us and the surrounding community,” Jackson County District Attorney Jean Peters Baker said, describing Brady as “the type of person who would always be willing to help you, and ‘you’ meant anyone who needed help.”
The fatal shooting has shaken many in the city, just days before its Irish Festival was set to begin.
Shaun Brady, 44, was killed Wednesday night while taking out trash at his restaurant.
Festival organizers wrote on Facebook on Thursday that Brady, a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, was an important part of the Irish Fest family and his restaurant was a place where many members of the Irish community gathered.
Brady was also the head chef and creator of the Irish Breakfast event, a ticketed party held after Catholic Mass on the Sunday of each Irish Festival weekend.
“One of Shaun’s greatest gifts was bringing people together with his culinary creations,” festival organizers wrote.
This year’s Irish Breakfast has been cancelled, but the Irish Festival will go on as planned over Labor Day weekend to “focus on the positive things we love about Shaun,” said Erin Gabert. he told RTE.
Police say he was confronted by a group of teenagers around 5:18 p.m.
First responders arrived at the scene and found him unconscious and with multiple gunshot wounds.
Brady was then transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Meanwhile, the suspects fled the scene in a vehicle, which was recovered in Kansas City, Missouri, and two teenagers were arrested an hour after the shooting. according to KSHB.
One of them has since been charged with second-degree murder, as well as attempted carjacking and armed criminal action. The Kansas City Star reports.
It is unclear what charges the other teen might face.
Brady was apparently trying to prevent one of them from getting into a vehicle when he was shot.
Brady grew up in Ireland and studied at the Dublin Institute of Technology, where he fell in love with the city’s culinary scene and became one of the school’s youngest graduates, according to the Star.
He then worked in kitchens throughout Europe and Asia, eventually returning to his homeland, where he met a woman named Kate, a native of Wichita, Kansas, while on vacation in Ireland and the two fell in love.
Brady then moved to the United States to build his life with Kate, first living in Chicago before eventually moving to Kansas City.
He previously worked as executive chef at the Ambassador Hotel and then opened Brady’s Public House with Graham Ferris.
The restaurant was forced to close during the COVID pandemic, but in 2022, Ferris and Brady opened Brady & Fox.
Brady, a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, was a big part of the town’s annual Irish Festival.
Irish Fest organizers have set up a memorial fund to benefit Brady’s wife, Kate, and their two young children.
“As a chef, Shaun Brady nourished his community, not only with incredible food, but with a deep pride in his culture and an infectious enthusiasm for celebration,” he said. The online fundraiser says.
‘The talent he brought to our Irish community will live on through those who were touched by his talent, his spirit and his joy for life.’
Organizers are asking for donations of $45, equivalent to the price of an Irish Breakfast ticket, and in just four hours since its inception, nearly 300 people had donated nearly $20,000.
He and Graham Ferris opened Brady & Fox in Kansas City in 2022, after their previous restaurant was forced to close during the COVID pandemic.
Even some Kansas City officials remembered Brady fondly on Thursday.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement he was “heartbroken” to learn of the chef’s death.
“I got to meet him, laugh with him, hear a little bit of his and his family’s story and was inspired by the business and community he was building in Kansas City,” Lucas said.
‘I am sorry for my loss and extend my sincere condolences to his family, friends and all who knew him.’
Jackson County District Attorney Jean Peters Baker also said she and her husband “are shocked and heartbroken by the senseless loss of our friend, Shaun Brady.”
“Shaun became a friend of my family several years ago,” she told KSHB. “How could you not become friends with Shaun? His personality was infectious, he was outgoing, warm and genuinely funny.
“He told great stories about his childhood in Ireland and his affection for that beautiful place,” he continued.
“He always offered a landing spot for me and my family on any occasion. Brady’s restaurant was one of those businesses that gave you a feeling of belonging there, like it was your family welcoming you home.
‘I’ve brought so many friends and colleagues to his business for the clotted cream scones (which I just found out he made special for me every time I went; I thought they were always on the menu), for the latest Irish liqueur he thought I should try, but most of all for his great personality.
“We mourn his family and offer them our deepest condolences,” he said. “And we promise that their loss will not be forgotten.”
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