Kansas City mayor calls for reform after fatal shooting of local chef Shaun Brady
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — The Kansas City community is mourning the death of local chef Shaun Brady, whom police said was gunned down while taking out the trash in the parking lot of his restaurant.
The owner of the Brady & Fox restaurant was known for his contributions to the local Irish community and to the Kansas City Irish Festival, which is set to take place this weekend, according to a statement posted to the Kansas City Irish Festival’s Facebook page.
In the wake of the shooting Wednesday night, Mayor Quinton Lucas extended his condolences to Brady’s family and called for change in the city that he says has suffered an increase in violent crime in recent months.
“Like many, I was heartbroken to learn of the death of Shaun Brady. Having met him, I was inspired by the community he was building in Kansas City,” Lucas said in a statement Thursday. “More distress comes in knowing how he died — due to violence arising once more in our community,” Lucas added.
The shooting took place Wednesday around 5:15 p.m. at the Brady & Fox restaurant, also known as Brady’s KC, in the Brookside neighborhood of the Missouri city, the Kansas City Police Department confirmed to ABC News.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the victim was taking out trash when he “observed multiple subjects by a vehicle,” police said. An interaction between the victim and subjects occurred that led to the victim being shot, police added.
Two teenage male suspects were taken into custody within an hour of the deadly shooting and a vehicle was recovered in Midtown, according to police, who further said that the shooting is being investigated as a homicide and the suspects are being held pending further investigation.
In a separate statement posted to Facebook, Mayor Lucas said Brady’s death comes as business owners in the area have spoken out about crime in the area.
“For years now, but more acutely in recent months, business owners in Brookside and Waldo, but also along Prospect, in the Crossroads, and throughout too much of our city have expressed serious concerns about a rise in property and nuisance crimes plaguing their stores, their parking lots, and their customers,” Lucas said in the statement, in part.
Gun violence in Kansas City came into national focus in February when the city’s Super Bowl parade ended in tragedy when one person was killed and 20 injured when shots were fired during a victory gathering outside of Union Station.
Lucas, who was present at the Chiefs’ parade, then called that shooting “an incredible disappointment.”
Kansas City recorded its deadliest year on record in 2023, with the Kansas City Police Department’s daily homicide analysis showing 182 homicides. That’s 12 more than in 2022 and three more than the city’s previous all-time high, which was 179 homicides in 2020.
(NEW YORK) — An OceanGate whistleblower testified during a United States Coast Guard hearing into the deadly 2023 implosion of the Titan that he had “no confidence” in the way the experimental submersible was being built.
David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, said he was known as a “troublemaker” in the tourism and expeditions company because he was so outspoken about his safety concerns — voiced years before five people were killed when the Titan catastrophically imploded during a deep-sea voyage to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023.
Lochridge said Tuesday during an ongoing Coast Guard hearing into the deadly implosion that he was hired in 2015 to in part work on the operations for the Titan but was ultimately not involved in its development. Lochridge said he was “phased out” after butting heads with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — one of the five people who died in the implosion.
When asked by the Marine Board of Investigation for the U.S. Coast Guard if he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built in 2017, Lochridge said, “No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am.”
Lochridge submitted a report in January 2018 outlining his concerns about the submersible’s carbon-fiber hull, including imperfections, after he said Rush asked him to inspect it.
“At the end of the day, safety comes first,” Lochridge said. “Yes, you’re taking a risk going down in a submersible, but don’t take risks that are unnecessary with faulty, and I mean faulty, deficient equipment.”
Lochridge testified Rush “liked to do things on the cheap.” Asked why the company resorted to cost-cutting measures, Lochridge said, “The desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as we could to start making profit.”
He said he did not know about the financial side of the company, but that “there was a big push to get this done.”
“A lot of steps along the way were missed,” he said.
Lochridge testified that Rush wanted to do manned testing of the first Titan prototype, though Lochridge recommended doing unmanned testing due to his concerns.
“I knew that hull would fail,” he said. “It’s an absolute mess.”
Lochridge was fired from OceanGate in 2018, days after submitting his report and attending an hourslong meeting with OceanGate executives, including Rush, ABC News previously reported. Documents reviewed by ABC News stated that it was clear Lochridge and Rush were “at an impasse” regarding the Titan hull, and “the only option was the termination of your employment.”
Lochridge testified Tuesday he was terminated because he was “anti-project.”
“I didn’t want to lose my job,” Lochridge said. “I wanted to go to Titanic. It was on my bucket list. I wanted to dive this, but dive it safely.”
Following his termination, Lochridge said he reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February 2018 with his concerns about public safety and was placed under the agency’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Recent Stories from ABC News
“I wouldn’t want to see anybody dying for the sake of going in a sub,” Lochridge said Tuesday. “It’s a magical place. I love it. I’m very passionate about what I do. If there’s risk like that, don’t do it.”
A defect was discovered in the first prototype of the carbon-fiber hull in 2019, and it was not used on Titanic missions, the Coast Guard said.
A second carbon-fiber hull was subsequently made that was used on Titanic missions, including the doomed dive on June 18, 2023.
OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the implosion.
The Coast Guard’s hearing into the implosion is scheduled to last two weeks. Lochridge is the only witness scheduled to testify on Tuesday.
During his testimony, Lochridge said he started being phased out of his duties after he inadvertently “embarrassed” Rush during a 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck on OceanGate’s Cyclops 1 submersible.
Lochridge, a veteran submersible pilot, said he was meant to take several paying clients down to the wreck to take a 3-D model, but Rush wanted to pilot the dive instead. Lochridge said he objected, noting that the wreck is “dangerous” and that over a dozen people died during dives to the site at the time — and eventually persuaded Rush to let him go along.
He said Rush ended up getting the vessel stuck in the wreck and refused to relinquish control of the submersible to Lochridge until one of the crew members yelled at Rush to give Lochridge the PlayStation controller that piloted the vessel.
Lochridge said Rush threw the controller at his head and one of the buttons came off, though he testified that he was able to repair it and get them back to the surface.
After that, Lochridge said Rush stopped talking to him.
Lochridge testified he raised objections after OceanGate phased out its relationship with the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory in 2016. He said Rush decided to do all engineering for the Titan in-house.
Asked by the board why that was the case, Lochridge said, “Arrogance.”
He also testified the company only cared about making money and it wasn’t interested in scientific research.
“The whole idea behind the company was to make money, that’s it,” Lochridge said. “There was very little in the way of science.”
OceanGate sued Lochridge following his termination, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets. Lochridge alleged in a counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired for raising concerns about quality control.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Lochridge said he dropped his OSHA case and walked away from the lawsuits in late 2018 because he didn’t want to “put my family through any more of this,” financially and emotionally.
“It was going nowhere,” he said. “It was too much for us as a family.”
Lochridge and OceanGate settled the dispute out of court in November 2018. Lochridge said OSHA closed the case in December 2018 following the settlement agreement.
“I never paid a penny to OceanGate, I’m going to state that clearly,” Lochridge said Tuesday. “I gave them nothing, they gave me nothing.”
In his final remarks, Lochridge said he hopes the investigation will shed light on “why OSHA did not actively address my concerns.”
“I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented,” he said. “As a seafarer, I feel deeply let down and disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well.”
ABC News has reached out to OSHA for comment. OSHA had previously declined to comment to ABC News on the case.
The Coast Guard hearing is scheduled to resume on Thursday, with testimony from the company’s former scientific director and a crew member who was on board OceanGate’s 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck.
(NEW YORK) — A 70-year-old man is in “good spirits” after being found nearly a week after going missing while on an off-road trail in California, authorities said Wednesday.
Warren Elliott got lost after walking away from his group while on the Rubicon Trail in Placer County Friday afternoon, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.
Following a dayslong search in tough terrain, Elliott was found “safe and uninjured” Wednesday morning at Hell Hole Reservoir, the sheriff’s office said. A person texted 911 at approximately 8 a.m. PT that they were with a missing person who was determined to be Elliott, the sheriff’s office said.
Elliott was camping in Rubicon Springs with a group doing trail rehab ahead of an upcoming event dubbed the Jeepers Jamboree when he got lost after going out for a walk, the sheriff’s office said. He was familiar with the area but upon returning from his walk he went in the wrong direction, according to the sheriff’s office.
Elliott managed to drink water from a river and ate a “handful of berries” while lost, the sheriff’s office said.
He was found roughly nine miles from the point where he was last seen though had walked much farther than that over the past five days, the sheriff’s office said.
Elise Soviar, a spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, said Elliott was airlifted out of the area by helicopter. The remote region, located west of Lake Tahoe, is accessible by road, though a helicopter was the quickest way to evacuate him, she said.
A California Highway Patrol helicopter transported him to the command post at Homewood Mountain Resort, where he was “greeted by cheers and clapping” and reunited with his family, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office released a video of Elliott’s emotional return, in which he could be seen in the now-tattered shirt he was wearing when he went missing.
“This is a tremendous relief for Mr. Elliott’s family and friends,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post. “A heartfelt thank you to all the search and rescue teams who tirelessly assisted from across the state.”
The sheriff’s office said they were also “immensely grateful to Jeepers Jamboree,” which provided food, drinks and a place to camp overnight amid the search.
Dozens of searchers from 10 agencies across the state were involved in the search, which also used drones and dog teams, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Rubicon Trail is an approximately 22-mile-long route near Lake Tahoe that features a popular off-highway vehicle trail.
“Tears of joy are flowing this morning,” the Jeepers Jamboree said on social media after Elliott was found. “All of us at Jeepers Jamboree are so incredibly relieved to have Warren found! We can’t express the appreciation we have for everyone who has been a part of finding Warren!”
(JOPPA, Md.) — A 16-year-old student allegedly shot a 15-year-old boy during an “altercation” in the boys’ bathroom at Joppatowne High School in Joppa, Maryland, on Friday, authorities said.
The 15-year-old was attended to by school nurses and the principal, and then airlifted to a trauma center where he is in serious condition, Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler said at a news conference.
The 16-year-old suspect left the school and fled to nearby houses, the sheriff said. He was apprehended “within minutes” thanks to community members, Gahler said.
The shooting unfolded on the suspect’s first day at the school, though it’s now four days into the school year, Gahler said.
It appears one shot was fired in the incident, the sheriff said, noting that the gun has not been recovered.
Authorities don’t know what the apparent argument was about, the sheriff said.
The suspect is known to law enforcement and police have previously responded to calls for service involving the teen, authorities said.
More than 100 police officers responded to the scene in Joppa, about 35 miles northeast of Baltimore, Gahler said.
“We’re just devastated to be a part of this awful group of schools that have experienced things like this,” Harford County Public Schools Superintendent Sean Bulson said. “And we’re going to do everything we can, working with this community, to make sure this absolutely never happens again.”
The school does not have metal detectors, officials said.