Kansas City’s Irish community is in shock after a beloved chef was shot dead 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. on Wednesday when he was approached by a group of teenagers hanging around a vehicle.
Witnesses said Brady tried to stop one of them from breaking into a vehicle when he was shot. FOX 4 KC reports.
“His death is a great loss to us and the community,” said Jackson County District Attorney Jean Peters Baker, who described Brady as “the type of man who would always be there to help you — and by ‘you,’ he meant anyone who needed help.”
The deadly shooting has shocked many people in the city, just days before the Irish festival was due to begin.
Shaun Brady, 44, was killed Wednesday night while taking out trash from his restaurant
Festival organizers wrote on Facebook on Thursday that Brady, who hails from Tipperary County, Ireland, was an important member of the Irish Fest family and that his restaurant was a place where many members of the Irish community gathered.
Brady was also the chef and creator of the Irish Breakfast event, a ticketed feast served after Catholic Mass on the Sunday of each Irish holiday weekend.
“Bringing people together with his culinary creations was one of Shaun’s greatest gifts,” wrote the festival organizers.
This year’s Irish Breakfast has been canceled, but the Irish celebration will go ahead as planned over Labor Day weekend to “focus on the positive things we love about Shaun,” according to Erin Gabert told RTE.
According to police, he was confronted by a group of teenagers around 5:18 p.m.
Emergency services rushed to the scene and found the man unconscious with multiple gunshot wounds.
Brady was then taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The suspects, meanwhile, fled the scene in a vehicle that was recovered in Kansas City, Missouri. Two teenagers were arrested within an hour of the shooting. according to KSHB.
One of them has since been charged with second-degree murder, as well as attempted auto theft and armed criminal action. reports the Kansas City Star.
It is unclear what charges the other teen will face.
Brady apparently tried to stop one of them as he broke into a vehicle.
Brady grew up in Ireland and attended 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, the Star reported.
He then worked in kitchens throughout Europe and Asia, eventually returning to his home country. There, he met Kate, a woman from Wichita, Kansas, while on vacation in Ireland. The two fell in love.
Brady then moved to the United States to build a life with Kate, first living in Chicago and eventually moving to Kansas City.
He previously worked as a chef at the Ambassador Hotel and then opened Brady’s Public House with Graham Ferris.
The restaurant was forced to close due to the COVID pandemic, but in 2022, Ferris and Brady opened Brady & Fox.
Brady, who hails from Tipperary County, Ireland, was a big part of the town’s annual Irish festival
Organisers of the Irish Fest have now set up a memorial fund to support Brady’s wife Kate and his 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 celebrating,” said the online fundraiser says.
‘The talent he brought to our Irish community will live on in the hearts of those who were touched by his talent, spirit and joie de vivre.’
Organizers are asking for a donation of $45 — the price of a ticket for an Irish breakfast. Within four hours of 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 due to the COVID pandemic
Even some Kansas City executives remembered Brady fondly on Thursday.
Mayor Quinton Lucas said in a statement that he was “heartbroken” to learn of the chef’s passing.
“I met him, laughed with him, heard a bit of his story and his family’s story, and was inspired by the business and community he built in Kansas City,” Lucas said.
“I am saddened 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 saddened by the senseless loss of our friend, Shaun Brady.
“Shaun became a friend of my family a few years ago,” she told KSHB. “How could you not be a friend of Shaun’s? His personality was infectious, he was fun, warm and genuinely funny.
“He told wonderful stories about growing up in Ireland and his love for that beautiful place,” she continued.
“He always provided a landing spot for me and my family for any occasion. Brady’s restaurant was one of those businesses that gave you a sense of belonging, like it was your family welcoming you home.
‘I’ve taken so many friends and colleagues to his shop for the scones and clotted cream (which I only recently found out he made especially for me when I came by – I thought they were always on the menu), for the latest Irish drink he’d told me to try, but mostly for his wonderful personality.
“We mourn his family and extend our deepest condolences,” she said. “And we promise that his loss will not be forgotten.”