‘Death is everywhere’: After shootings claim father and brother-in-law, KC man is killed

Raheem Knox was about 16 years old when his father was shot and killed in Kansas City.

After that, his older sister Tika Taylor recalls, the teenager searched for role models in superheroes of beloved cartoons, stars of the Los Angeles Lakers and family friends who took him in on the West Coast, where he attended high school in a small southern California town.

After graduating, he returned to Kansas City and moved in with his mother. Living only a few minutes away from Taylor was important to Knox. After Taylor’s husband was killed in another Kansas City shooting, he wanted to be there to help care for her four young children, who called him their favorite uncle.

Knox didn’t always know where life was taking him, Taylor said, but at 26 years old, he appeared more optimistic than ever. He had a 2-month-old son and had become a role model for the family in his own right.

But on July 6, in another devastating blow, Knox also was shot and killed in Kansas City.

That day, police responded to a shooting just before 2 p.m. in the 4800 block of East 40th Terrace. They found Knox shot inside a home and emergency medical crews declared him dead at the scene.

Now, the family is grappling with the loss of yet another loved one and skeptical that there will ever be a time or place where they will safe from gun violence.

Knox was the 79th person killed in a homicide in Kansas City this year. The vast majority of the victims, like Knox and his father and brother-in-law, were killed with guns.

Last year, Kansas City, Missouri, suffered the second-highest number of homicides in the city’s history, recording 157.

Anyone with information about Knox’s killing can call the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-8477.

‘Always in jokes or in love’

Knox was born in 1995. He spent his early childhood in Kansas City as the youngest of four children.

Around 2005, their mother moved them to Orange Park, Florida, where she hoped to give them a better life. They lived with an aunt and cousins.

According to Taylor, Knox was the favorite. Both parents spoiled him with toys, candies and — most of all — supersized burgers at McDonalds.

Their house was full of family and friends, and Knox loved an audience. He’d plant his feet and stomp around on the floors, mimicking the Incredible Hulk cartoons he watched regularly with his older sister Myonia Knox.

As a young boy, he’d press his teeth together, squint his eyes and turn up the corners of his lips until his mouth doubled in size, making Taylor laugh. When her older friends came over to the house, they all spent time together. His goofy persona made him welcome in any crowd, she said.

Even when he hit Taylor with his toys or jumped up and surprised her, Taylor said, it was hard not to laugh with him.

“You never knew what Raheem was going to do, but it was always in jokes or in love,” she said.

When his father was killed, the fun side of Knox faded from his family’s view. As his mother and siblings moved back to Kansas City, Knox moved in with family friends in Hemet, California.

They took him in as their own. According to Taylor, being in a house with other strong male role models seemed to help with the grieving process.

In California, Knox found inspiration in the stars of the Los Angeles Lakers. He cheered them on in every game and practiced his dribbling and free throws with the other young boys in the house whenever he could.

He was inquisitive, Taylor said, and it made him a good student. Throughout high school, he excelled in mathematics and art. After watching cartoons, he’d mimic the drawings on screen.

Often using pen and paper to give Transformers and superheroes his own spin.

Knox wanted to do right by his family and model the virtues and strength of the characters on his television.

After graduating high school, he moved back to Kansas City and got a job at a metro area warehouse to support his mother.

Becoming a role model

Knox stepped up to help her care for the kids and became a role model to the whole family, Taylor said.

“Raheem and my children have a bond like no other and my son actually looks so similar to him… He loved his nieces and his nephews,” she said.

After Taylor’s husband died, Knox spent hours driving the kids to and from basketball practice, watching their games and coaching them into the players he long admired on television. He told the kids that one day he would start his own league for them and other kids in the area so that they could all fall in love with the sport.

“He’d say you play how you know and I’ll play how I know, that way we’ll both teach each other something,” she said.

His advice sounded wise to Taylor. He gave everyone the opportunity to be themselves and when necessary, aim for better.

Two months ago, Knox had his own son.

She was excited to see him as a father, directing all the love and loyalty he gave to her children toward his own.

“He really practiced what he preached. He was in his son’s life every day,” she said.

They would sit around and fantasize about a time when they could travel together outside of Kansas City as a big family.

When Knox was found dead on July 6, those plans were shattered. Once again, the family lost a role model to a shooting.

“There’s not a point in moving away and trying to run from gun violence,” Taylor said. “It’s about where people’s minds are and what they’re doing with these guns.

“Death is everywhere ... We’ll never know when its our time,” she said.

She hopes one day the violence will stop. But until then, faith in God keeps her going.

The family held a funeral service for Knox on Saturday. His mother started a fundraiser to help provide care to Knox’s newborn son. As of Wednesday, about $65 has been raised.