photo by: Contributed

Brianna Higgins

Updated at 6:06 p.m. Friday, June 28, 2024.

OLATHE — A Kansas City teen was given the maximum sentence Friday for the murder of a 15-year-old Lawrence girl after he shot her in the head while playing with firearms. 

The teen, Davon D. Washington, 17, of Kansas City, Missouri, pleaded guilty in May in Johnson County Juvenile Court to one felony count of second-degree unintentional but reckless murder and one misdemeanor count of a juvenile in possession of a firearm.

The conviction is in connection with an incident on Jan. 19 near the 16900 block of West 127th Street in Olathe when Washington and another man were tossing guns from the front seat of a parked car into the back seat and “dry firing” them while 15-year-old Brianna Higgins, of Lawrence, was sitting in the driver seat. At some point, one of the guns was loaded with a live round, unbeknownst to Washington, before he pointed it at Higgins’ head and pulled the trigger, as the Journal-World reported. 

Higgins, a sophomore at Lawrence High School, was taken to Olathe Medical Center around 11 p.m.; she was declared dead a short time later.

As part of a plea agreement, Washington agreed to be sentenced as a juvenile and as an adult under court’s Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile Prosecution (EJJP) which allows the court to impose both the juvenile sentence and the adult sentence at the same time. The state had originally intended to try him as an adult if the case had gone to trial.

Washington was ordered by Judge Brenda Cameron to serve his juvenile sentence in custody until he is 22.5 followed by a six month after-care period. If he fails to comply with the conditions of the juvenile sentence until he is 23 years old, he will be ordered to serve his adult sentence of 123 months, just over 10 years, in prison.

The hearing was attended by more than 50 supporters of Higgins who wore red shirts with Higgins’ picture on them. Also in attendance were numerous law enforcement officers who worked on the investigation. Many supporters stood in the aisle of the courtroom as they cried. 

First to speak in Higgins’ memory was her older sister, Iona Wakole, who carried a scarf with markings for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement. She said Higgins was a magnificent and funny person who always stood up for what she believed in and that Higgins could have had a great legacy, but Washington took that from her. 

“It makes me so mad that this is claimed as an accident. You pointed a gun at her head and pulled the trigger,” Wakole said. 

Several other people spoke, including Higgins’ aunts, grandmothers, and best friends. 

“I don’t feel like she is getting justice right now,” an aunt said about the plea agreement that the state offered Washington. 

One of Higgins’ friends asked why Washington drove around town with Higgins’ lifeless body instead of calling for an ambulance. She said that maybe Higgins could have survived if Washington hadn’t stopped at a gas station on the way to hospital. 

“You killed her and then let her die,” the friend said. 

Higgins’ godfather, Tony Bassett said he may be different from some of the others and that he doesn’t want Washington dead. He said he hoped Washington would live forever so he could experience losing all of his loved ones and every pain known to man. He said the sentence was “watered down justice” and just an easy “win” for the prosecution. 

“I hope this horrible life you created is worth it,” Bassett said. 

One of Higgins’ grandmothers spoke about holding Higgins in her arms as a baby. She said that what Washington did was no accident. He chose to put the gun to Higgins head and pull the trigger, but she thanked him for taking Higgins to a hospital instead of dumping her body somewhere. 

Finally Higgins’ mother, Vanessa Mahkuk, said her heart is broken to know that she will never see her daughter, her best friend, alive again. 

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to live life without her,” Mahkuk said. 

Cameron, the judge, addressed the gallery and agreed that the sentence Washington would serve was not justice but that it was what the law required. 

“I’ve been on the bench for 21 years… I don’t know if I have ever seen pain like this,” Cameron said. 

Cameron added that she hoped the end of the legal aspect of Higgins’ murder will bring some sort of closure and that Washington took responsibility for his actions soon after the shooting. 

Washington, before he was sentenced, said that he knew anything he said would not mean anything to the family but that he does wish he could go back to change what happened. 

“I am truly sorry,” he said.