Latest news with #Brazill
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
True crime: Teacher Barry Grunow gunned down by 13-year-old Nathaniel Brazill 25 years ago
(This story is part of The Palm Beach Post's new series on true crime.) Victim: Barry Grunow, 35 Killer: Nathaniel Brazill Where: Lake Worth Date: May 26, 2000 It was the last day of school. Barry Grunow, a beloved English teacher at Lake Worth Middle School for 17 years, was winding up the day. Seventh-grader Nathaniel Brazill was due to get an "F" in Grunow's English class and had just been suspended over a water balloon fight. So he went to the home of a family friend and found a .25-caliber pistol. Then he returned to school. Standing at Grunow's classroom door, Brazill asked to see his friends. Grunow laughed and refused. Brazill cocked the gun and shot the father of two in the face, killing him. It is the only time a teacher has been killed inside a Palm Beach County school. It's been 25 years since, and Brazill is still in prison. When detectives told Brazill that Grunow had died, he sobbed, 'What was I thinking? What was I thinking?' It was a time of kids in their early teens committing murder but getting no mercy. Tronneal Magnum was 15 when he killed 13-year-old classmate John Pierre Kamel outside Conniston Middle School in 1997. They were arguing over a wristwatch. Magnum was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 2022 at age 39. "Murder is an adult crime, just being committed by someone in a 13-year-old body,' then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer told CNN. Brazill was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison after being tried as an adult. Grunow, 35, was not only a teacher but an assistant coach of the middle school's basketball team. He was known for how well he related to his students. Grunow was born in Detroit. His father died young and he grew up in working-class Cabana Colony near Palm Beach Gardens. He took all-conference honors at Jupiter High School, then he went on to Florida Atlantic University and graduated in 1987. His first job was at Loggers Run Middle School in Boca Raton where he met his wife, Pam Hlawka, who taught special education. They had two children. Pam Grunow sued the Brazill family friend who owned the handgun, the Palm Beach County School Board and the pawn shop that sold the handgun. Those cases were settled for more $1 million. Grunow also filed an action against the gun manufacturer that resulted in a $1.2 million jury verdict, but the trial judge set aside the verdict, and in 2005 the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld the ruling. While he's been in prison, Brazill has earned a paralegal certificate. Now Brazill is 38, older than Grunow' was when he died. Brazill is scheduled to be released May 18, 2028 after he has served his whole sentence — when he's 41. Holly Baltz, who has a passion for true crime, is the investigations editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@ Support local investigative journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: True crime: Florida teacher Barry Grunow killed by 13-year-old student
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tacoma church opens 60 affordable-housing units to complete decades-long vision
A Tacoma church and community leaders recently celebrated a new affordable-housing project in the Hilltop neighborhood that has been decades in the making. The Shiloh New Life Apartments next to the Shiloh Baptist Church, 1211 S. I St., offers 60 affordable housing units for low-income individuals and families, with a priority on offering units to individuals experiencing homelessness. Pastor Chavis Young told The News Tribune the church purchased the land for the apartments nearly 25 years ago with a vision to create affordable housing. 'This was birthed from the heart of Pastor E.S. Brazill, who wanted to create low-income housing on that land,' Young said. Before becoming the New Life Apartments, Young said, the land was used for a variety of purposes, including transitional housing for those exiting incarceration. He said the New Life Apartments were part of a decades-old vision by the late Brazill, who 'dreamed of creating housing on a bigger scale.' Brazill's vision was carried on by Pastor Gregory Christopher, who retired from Shiloh Baptist Church in 2023 after serving the Hilltop community for more than 20 years. Young said Christopher 'had a heart for serving' the unhoused community as he experienced homelessness earlier in his life. While neither Christopher nor Brazill was not at the church to see their vision come to fruition, Young said it was a 'blessing' to see the land where five houses once sat transformed into housing for dozens of families and individuals. The complex is composed of two separate buildings, one named for Brazill's wife, Lily, and the other named for James and Marilyn Walton — two community leaders who were involved with the church. James Walton was the City of Tacoma's first Black city manager. Shane Vestnys, a property manager for the apartments, told The News Tribune as of May 7 all but one of the units had been leased. Vestnys said one-third of the units are reserved for veterans experiencing housing instability. Veterans can be referred to the units through Veterans Affairs, and the Tacoma Housing Authority is providing housing vouchers for those individuals. Units are also available for individuals with disabilities. Many of the units come furnished, and Vestnys said a representative from a service provider is on site to assist residents with the supportive services they might need. The units are intended for individuals and families earning 30–50% of the Area Median Income (AMI). According to recent U.S. Census Bureau data from 2023, Tacoma's household AMI is $83,857. The nearly $34 million project received $5,077,566 in funding from Pierce County, $6,020,000 from the Washington State Department of Commerce, $4,444,893 through the City of Tacoma's Community Redevelopment Authority Board, and $14,458,765 in equity from the Washington State Housing Finance Commission's Low Income Housing Tax Credit. The public investments mark a region-wide push to create affordable housing stock. 'To fully meet the housing needs of current and future residents, the county needs to produce, on average, over 2,300 units per year of housing affordable at or below 50% of area median income (AMI) through the year 2044,' the county's Housing Action Strategy of 2022 found. 'Over half of these units are needed for households at 30% of AMI or below.'
