KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A 15-year-old Kansas City who wanted to be a dentist attempted to outrun a drive-by shooting on Friday, but her life ended moments later on the floor of her cousin's apartment.
Brannae Browne had been sitting outside on the porch with friends at about 6:30 p.m. Friday when a beat-up silver Chevy Impala drove up and someone inside opened fire. She got up to run away but was shot in the stomach.
"I was saying Brannae Brannae Brannae. Please don't leave us. Brannae, stay with us, stay with us," said Tahsay Horton.
Tahsay and her sister Tanesha say it was their apartment that was targeted. They were across the street with their children when the shooting happened.
The carpet in Tenisha's apartment has been cut out where 15-year-old Brannae Browne collapsed and died.
"I'm on the phone with the ambulance, she just laying here, barely breathing," said Tanesha.
"The last time we said her name, she turned her head and looked at me and my sister and she had her fingers crossed like this, and that's when she took her last breath," said Tahsay.
Brannae was a sophomore at J.C. Harmon High School. Her mom says Brannae wanted to be a dentist.
"Everybody loved her. Everybody loved Brannae," said Tanesha.
Tanesha and Tahsay say it is the second time in about a month that the apartment has been shot up because of a dispute between young boys no older than 17-years-old.
"I asked them when they first came through here, when this stuff at first happened, I asked them, like 'Why?' What is y'all funking for? Whatever y'all say. What is all this for? They don't know. They really can't tell you."
The Horton sisters say Browne was dating their brother, a 17-year-old boy who is in custody for participating in a shoot-out, allegedly with a rival group that Tanesha and Tahsay believe is responsible for the attacks on their apartment and the murder of Brannae.
"As long as I got breath in my body, as long as I'm breathing, justice will be served for Brannae," said Tanesha.
"There's no sense in this senseless violence. There is not sense of it" said Tahsay.
Police have not said whether the suspects in the deadly drive-by are the people Tahsay and Tanesha believe they are. There were two other people shot during the drive-by. One boy was grazed in the shoulder; the other shot in the back. Both are expected to recover.
"I get over here and my cousin, he is walking out of the building like, 'It hurt. It hurt.' He had got shot in his back and then I just seen a whole puddle of blood," said Tahsay.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Browne's family with funeral expenses.
One person has been arrested in connection to the drive-by shooting that killed Brannae, but charges had not yet been filed on Tuesday. Those who have information about who murdered Brannae are asked to call the TIPS Hotline. It is anonymous. The number: 816-474-8477.
Brannae Browne
