My brother is flying in on Thursday and we will be attending Nathan’s funeral on Saturday. These past 2 days I have been on an emotional roller coaster and I must admit his death has hit me harder than I ever thought it would. You would have to have known Nathan to fully understand, I think. The Buie’s moved to our neighborhood when I was about 10 and Nathan and my brother became instant friends. Like I said before our neighborhood was really close. Everyone would come down and play basketball out front, we’d have 4th of July parties together and we’d all go hang out at the community pool. The Buie’s are one of the nicest and most charismatic families you’d ever meet. Nathan was always the goof who’d do things like the Carlton dance (from Fresh Prince) just to get a laugh out of everyone all the while laughing hysterically at himself.
The world has lost a good soul, and what makes me more sad is that so few people are coming forward with details of the shooting. 11 kids total were shot!! Two (Nathan & DeMarco) died while 2 others are in critical condition. The shooting happened in the parking lot just after a party (with an attendance of over TWO HUNDRED people!!!) was wrapped up at a hall that was rented out! And only a dozen or so witnesses have come forward?!? WTF???!! Do people not have spines anymore? We even have an anonymous tips line to call! Ugh sorry… I didn’t want this to be a rant, I wanted it to be something good to remember Nathan by. Anyway, if anyone cares to know, here’s a little more info as to what happened Saturday night before the shooting. It broke my heart to read this…
Revelry quickly turned to calamity
Kansas City police are piecing together events that led to two killings.
By CHRISTINE VENDEL
The Kansas City Star (link)As Nathan Buie left a party early Sunday near 83rd Street and Wornall Road, he stopped to chat with police officers directing traffic from the crowded parking lot.
When he asked whether police still distributed baseball cards, one officer gave him several cards.
Gunfire erupted shortly after that. Several suspects fired at least 57 rounds, police said. Some party-goers ran; others dived for cover. A bullet struck an artery in Buie’s neck.
When homicide detectives arrived, the 20-year-old still was clutching a police-issued baseball card in his lifeless hand. Police said Buie was a bystander caught in a hail of gunfire after a fistfight.
Another bullet struck DeMarco Harvey, 20, in the head. He died at a hospital. Police think Harvey also was an innocent victim.Police said at least nine other men were injured, including one who apparently has not sought medical treatment. Two victims were in serious condition Monday.
Another man who attended the party told police he was shot in the arm while driving east on Interstate 435 near Holmes Road just 15 minutes after the initial shooting. Police were investigating whether the shootings were connected.
Investigators have interviewed about half the victims, who were shuttled to five hospitals.
Police described the incident as one of the worst single shootings in the city in recent memory.
“That’s a once-in-a-career type thing,†said Capt. Rich Lockhart, a police spokesman.
The party’s organizer, Bobby Logan, said that his company, Monarch Entertainment, had rented the Knights of Columbus hall for the event, which drew about 200 young adults and college students. People paid $5 each to attend the event featuring a disc jockey, dancing and drinks, he said.
The party went smoothly, Logan said, except that he twice had to clear loiterers out of the parking lot.
The party ended just before 1 a.m., Logan said. He was packing up his equipment when a friend told him that Buie had been shot. Logan attended Hickman Mills High School with Buie, who ran the 400-meter dash for the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
“I was surprised by the whole thing,†Logan said. “Everything was going right.â€
Friends said they think Buie went to the party alone. Buie was attending college on academic and track scholarships. He played piano and drums and was known as “Mr. Congeniality,†said his older sister, Nayshea Rice of Columbia. Rice said her brother had been working this summer with his mother at a company that manufactures safety lights.
Rice last spoke with Buie about 7 p.m. Saturday, after he played the organ for a funeral at his father’s church.
Now, relatives are planning Buie’s funeral.
“I was very proud to be his sister,†Rice said. “It’s just so sad. He went there (to the party) to have a good time and he never came back.â€
Police said that of the hundreds of people who attended the party, only about two dozen stayed after it ended. Police would like to talk to more witnesses. Anyone with information should call the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (474-8477).
Police, Jackson County Prosecutor Mike Sanders and community activists will gather at 4 p.m. today at the crime scene for a vigil. Counselors also will be on hand.
P.S. Want to know something tragically and disturbingly ironic? Saturday night Melissa and I hung out like we almost always do. About 12:30a.m. we picked her boyfriend up from work and then went to get her car from a nearby parking lot so we could all go back to her house (She lives just off 89th and Wornall). I got to Melissa’s house a few minutes before her and when she pulled up she was telling me about how a big section of Wornall was blocked off. (I had decided to drive there via Ward Parkway (a parallel street a couple block over) instead of Wornall that night.) But we didn’t think much of it because she said she had noticed 2 really banged up cars. That morning (around 4 a.m.) my brother called with the news, but no specific details. When I finally saw the report on t.v. stating the shooting was at 83rd and Wornall, I put 2 and 2 together. I instantly called Melissa and she was shocked as I was and told me that as they were driving down Wornall the ambulance passed them, so it was all possible the shooting had only happened mere minutes before I was in the neighborhood…
I am so very sorry for your loss. It seems so random. It is always the case where so many people are witness to the tragedy but no one comes forward. Cowards.
Thank you for your kind words. I spoke with my mother and she thought that maybe the police were being vauge in the details in hopes that even more people will come forward. I certainly hope that is so.
I am a coach at Southern Utah University. We compete against UMKC and Nathan. It is very sad to hear that he has been taken in this manner. He will be remembered as a valiant performer who gave everything to his team. The SUU track and field team sends it’s regrets to the Buie and UMKC families.
Thank you, it is always nice to hear that Nathan left such a positive impact on people\’s lives no matter how small. I will be sure to share your regrets with the Buie\’s if the opportunity presents itself.
I actually had the pleasure of knowing Nathan, and it is mere tragedy. Every since hearing about his death, all I did is cry until I realized that he is in a better place. He was a really cool person to be around, and was always the life of the party. I believe that he died happy, and would have been more than honored to see how many people showed up to his funeral. However, I didn’t make it to the funeral. I knew it would’ve torn me apart to see him that way. The memories that I currently have of Nathan are more than great. I’ve been trying to get ahold of an obituary from the funeral. I also had the pleasure of working with Nathan, which was also more fun than one person should ever have at work. I remember about a month ago I was going through some of my phone numbers, and I saw his name. I was going to call to say hi, but somehow got distracted, and never made the call. Now this!!I’m really upset by this, and I guarantee that whoever did this has a very guilty conscience. I met Nathan’s mother a few years ago, he introduced us one day while we were at work. Please give her, and the Buie family my condolences. I figured now would’nt be the best time for me to call.**** R.I.P. Nathan Buie, xoxo~
Thanks Ashaununta. The funeral was heartbreaking and yet at the same time, all the people there showing their love and support just proved how much Nathan and his family have impacted so many peoples lives. If I get the opportunity, I will try to scan in the obituary at work and send it to you. I certainly hope whoever did this to Nathan and DeMarco has a very guilty conscience as well as the people hiding the truth for the murders. I hope they are found soon to at least bring some closure to their families. Thanks for commenting, it warms my heart to see and hear how much Nathan has affected so many peoples lives.
Thank you, I would GREATLY appreciate that!!!
I heard about this tragic incident all the way here in the District of Colubmia, who, at this writing, is under a Crime Emergency declared by the Mayor and Chief of Police due to a dramatic spike in violent crime involving youth, including homicide.
I am a 36 year old native of Kansas City and know members of young brother Nathan’s father’s church, who attended the funeral service and who were/are deeply upset by this and other senseless violence that has taken hold in the city.
Young people the Bible says, “A wise man will be slow to anger.” If you visit the prisons, you will see many inmates, male and female, who are there, not because they are bad, but a circumstance came up in their life that ignited the passion of anger. They lost control and, in that moment of loss of control, they reached for something to inflict pain on the object of their anger. When it was over and the anger subsided, someone, often not that same target of the anger, lay wounded or dying, and a human being was sent to prison for many years because they lacked control of the emotion called anger.
Each of us, as human beings created in the image of God, can on occasion become angry. When you are angry, you are capable of doing that which, under normal emotional circumstances, you would not do. Anger has degrees to it. I can be angry and have my anger under control. You may see a fire in my eyes, you may hear something in my words, but I’m keeping myself under control. But, there is another kind of anger when we allow it to get to that point where we are unable to control the reaction that comes from our anger. We reach a point, then, of constructive though not legal, insanity. We have lost the balance. Then what comes from our mouths and hands can be very destructive.
I implore you to turn this tragedy around and let it be a torchlight to guide you in a direction of personal, spiritual and community peace.
A part of the process of gaining personal and spiritual peace, is atonement (amends or reparation made for injury or wrong).
It is WRONG to know something about a crime that has claimed the life of another human being, formed in the image of God, and say nothing. Atonement for you is to say something to bring justice to bear.
For the perpetrator(s), that atonement will only come by your turning yourself in and accepting the responsibility for your actions. Allowing this hurting family to move to some sense of closure and the beginnings of a very difficult healing process.
Either way, there will come a day when the God of this world will require of us justice for all of our actions, good and bad. We will be held account. Today, you have a choice and can seek absolution. Then, you will not.
My prayers go out to the families and friends and to the communities in hurt.
Im Anraya,
I have known nathan (brother) since we were little we went to the same church and sang song together in th choir,and also was baptized together.I was soooo Hurt to see and hear that the man I called my brother is gone.Theres not one day that I go without thinking about him.It feels like just yesterday he was at my sons first birthday party laughing with me.I miss and will always love me some Nathan Buie(Brother).I will see u on that day when I come face to face with God, and I want u to tell me what u have been doing since u been gone.
I just recently learned about this tragedy while visiting my parents here in KC. I taught Nathan while he was a student at Santa Fe Elementary, and I am TRULY saddened by this loss. Nathan was our class clown, and no matter how I was feeling when I got to school, once I saw him, he would always have something funny to say that would make me laugh. He was a very talented, smart young man…..we have lost a wonderful individual.
NATHAN WAS A GREAT PERSON ALWAYS MADE FUN OF ME IN A HUMORUS WAY AND HE WILL ALWAYS BE MISSED. WE BOTH GOT CUT FROM OUR BASKETBALL TEAM OUR JUNIOUR YEAR AT HICKMAN MILLS HIGH SCHOOL.
I am so sorry to hear about this and I know that it’s almost two years after the incident but i just happened to see Nathans’ picture on facebook and so i became curious about who this man is?(i don’t watch the news because of things like this)…So i looked him up on facebook and i found out that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time… When I read his story I was driven to tears to see such a sucessful young man that was family devoted, school orientated, and he was going somewhere with himself… I coudn’t believe the maddness that is happening in the world… it’s a shame that we can’t go to parties and have fun with our friends and safely go home… But anyways Im so sorry about your loss because that was more than just a friend, brother, and even a co-worker… When i looked at his pictures i was like wow this guy has an amazing smile and I just couldnt forget it… When I read words from his family members I was like Oh my god i can’t even imagine what their troubled souls are going through…!I’m so sorry for his family and I just want give my full condolences to his mother and immediate family and the ones closest to him….I’m sorry once again and it can only get better for him beacuse god is taken the ones that are beyond us spiritually because they are good people and they deserve more for their hard work…So God Bless and take heave to this ignorant action and continue to teach!
Well it has almost been 3 years, and its still a shock. I knew of Nathan ever since he was in the 7th grade I believe. He was a wondrful person. The night of this terrible event I was invite to go. I was shocked because my mother was actually going to let me go. I was all pumped and ready to go,when I got the certain urge to chill with my family. When I hear the news I was like “Naw they got the wrong name, nobody would shoot Nathan.” After attending his funeral, I began my senior year. I was the editor of the yearbook, and I wanted to do a memory page. Nathan was not the only tragic death around that time. I interviewed Mr. Buie Sr. I believe that experience is one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I was also on the track team with Nathan, and I knew no matter how good or how bad we seemed to do, Nathan was going to make sure that everybody was having fun. After he graduated I would have to say that track was never the same. (no offense to the other clases) Although Nathan never had the opportunity to run on the new track at Hickman, the class of 2007 wanted and did dedicate the track to Nathan and any other fallen track stars. Nathan will forever be missed but never forgotten. And remember to always “Run with PATIENCE”