On the evening of April 14, 2021, a burst of gunfire in the parking lot of a Kare Pharmacy in Leavenworth, Kansas, tragically cut short the life of 12-year-old Brian Derek "BJ" Henderson, a Black male from Kansas City. The young boy was in the backseat of a black Volkswagen Jetta when the shooting occurred around 6:45 p.m. Initially, Leavenworth police responded to calls of shots fired and found only shell casings at the scene.
About an hour later, they were contacted by Kansas City police, who reported that a child had been brought to Children's Mercy Hospital with a gunshot wound and was pronounced dead. The vehicle that brought him to the hospital matched the one from the shooting scene.
The investigation into the young boy's death quickly led to the identification of three suspects. In the early morning hours following the shooting, a SWAT team apprehended 25-year-old Darvon Thomas of Leavenworth, along with a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old from Kansas City, Kansas. The incident was reportedly the result of a gun deal that went wrong. It is believed that an acquaintance of Henderson's older sister had arranged to sell a handgun to the suspects, but instead presented a BB gun. When the suspects realized the deception, one of them opened fire on the car Henderson was in. During the chaos, a bullet also struck a nearby red sedan carrying a woman and her infant daughter, though they were unharmed.
Following the arrests, charges were filed against the individuals taken into custody. Darvon Thomas was charged with first-degree murder. The 17-year-old, later identified as Jaylen LaRon Johnson, was also charged with felony murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Johnson was ultimately convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Darvon Thomas later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. The family of BJ Henderson, devastated by their loss, remembered him as a bright and beloved child, the youngest of five siblings.
