Lauren Juma had her whole life in front of her. The 16-year-old had just made her high school cheerleading team and had dreams of joining her older sister in the U.S. Air Force after graduation.
But now, her family is devastated. The tragic series of events began early Friday morning, when Juma Facetimed with her mother as well as one of her older sisters.
“It was 1 o’clock in the morning, and she just said he was being really weird and she wanted me to come pick her up,” said Keryca Harmon, Lauren’s 19-year-old sister. “That’s what I did.”
But Harmon would never get to see her sister alive again.
“By the time I got there, the police were already out there searching around the house,” Harmon said, tears welling up. “I was there about three minutes before I heard two gunshots go off, and I ran toward the house.”
Meanwhile, Laurie Young, who was at a work training program in Austin, rushed back to the home she shared with her boyfriend Van Brisbon and daughter for three years.
“She was 16. She just joined cheerleading team,” recalled the devastated mother. “She had a bright future ahead of her, and she was going to go to the U.S. Air Force when she graduated.”
Family members who had met Brisbon over the past few years said outwardly that he seemed friendly.
“He just seemed like a real good person when we met him,” recalled cousin Antoinette Buckley. “Nobody thought this was going to happen.”
“He can rot in jail,” said Young, her voice breaking with emotion. “He had no reason for taking my baby’s life. Sixteen years old.”
Copyright © 2022 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.