KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A key witness to Brandon Howell’s apparent violent and deadly crime rampage has died.
He was a witness who told FOX 4 of the horror he saw the day several residents of his Woodbridge neighborhood were shot and killed.
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The sudden death of 79-year-old James “Jim” Anderson is also hitting a lot of people in the Woodbridge lane community extremely hard.
“I was thinking I better not go out ‘cause I’ll get shot myself. I was kind of scared,” said Anderson during an interview the day after police say several of his neighbors were shot and killed by one man.
Anderson told FOX 4 he was in his back bedroom when he heard gunshots. He said when he looked out of the window he saw a man in a black hoodie, who was driving George Taylor’s SUV, pull up outside Susan Choucroun’s house.
Police would later arrest the suspect, Brandon Howell.
“She came out the garage door, he shot her with a shotgun,” Anderson had said.
Two days after our interview, Anderson died.
His wife, Cheryl, told FOX 4 Friday morning her husband accidentally fell down their living room stairs.
Cheryl called 911. Paramedics arrived, but Anderson eventually passed away.
Right now, the official cause of his sudden death is unknown, but Cheryl says her husband was “extremely stressed” about what he saw and his neighbors’ violent deaths.
Mrs. Anderson says her husband was a retired real-estate appraiser and an avid golfer. He had three adult kids and eight grandchildren. The couple was married for seven years.
“What a loss and what wonderful people they were. To come to this end is shocking,” said Mary Cona, a neighbor of Anderson and the victims.
Cona has lived in the Woodbridge subdivision for 45 years. She’s now praying for Anderson’s widow, as well as all of the families mourning the loss of loved ones, suddenly gone during the violent crimes that rocked this subdivision.
“Definitely for all of them and you know we’re all brothers and sisters so what hurts one, hurts us all,” said Cona.
A gathering to celebrate Jim Anderson’s life is scheduled for Saturday, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Mcgilley State Line Chapel, located at 12301 State Line Road, in Kansas City, Mo. 64145.