A beautiful 16-year-old honor roll student was shot and killed inside her home early Friday morning in Humble, Texas by her mother’s boyfriend. Police have charged him with her murder.
Van Henry Brisbon, 60, has been charged with the teen’s murder. He is currently sitting in jail on a $1 million bond, Media Take Out confirmed.
The victim was 16-year-old Lauren Juma – who had her whole life in front of her. The teen was an honor roll student, and had just made the Nimitz High School cheerleading team. She also had dreams of joining her older sister in the U.S. Air Force after graduation.
The tragic series of events happened early Friday morning when Lauren Facetimed her mother and 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 Keryca would never get the chance to save her sister.
“By the time I got there, the police were already out there searching around the house,” Keryca said, tears welling up. “I was there about three minutes before I heard two gunshots go off, and I ran toward the house.”
According to court records, Lauren told her mom, Laurie Young, in her Facetime call that the elder boyfriend Van was standing inside her room in the dark and wanted her mother to tell him to get out, which she did. Lauren then screamed, “mom he has a gun,” court records say. Then, the call was ended.
“She was 16. She just joined the 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 and had no problems.
“He just seemed like a really good person when we met him,” recalled cousin Antoinette Buckley. “Nobody thought this was going to happen.”
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