LeGend Talifaro: The Boy Whose Death Spurred Trump to Action

Note: Some parties involved in the life and death of LeGend Taliferro aren't named in news coverage. To make it easier to identify people, I will give them pseudonyms noted with an asterisk*.

"Living Legend"

LeGend Micah Taliferro got off to a rough start in life. He was born January 30, 2016 with a condition requiring open heart surgery when he was just four months old. His doctors said he'd eventually need a second procedure. But the little boy was a fighter. He didn't just survive. He thrived. His family referred to him as their "Living Legend" in admiration of his indomitable spirit.

His mother, Charron Powell, said that Legend, her only child, was bright and curious. She told the Johnson City Press, "He asked a million questions and if you didn't answer how he wanted, he'd ask more. He was very smart. I feel like he was way older than he really was because he knew so much and he was so very inquisitive."

He attended Suzette's Little Blessings Daycare and played basketball for the JCA Ballers. He loved music, sports, and dinosaurs.

LeGend had been visiting his father, Raphael Taliferro, on June 28, 2020. The four-year-old was excited because his dad had a new baby brother for him. LeGend called his mom and told her, "I want to stay with Dad and my brother."

When bedtime came, LeGend made a fort from cushions and blankets just inside the sliding glass back doors and settled down, snug and cozy.

Trouble Had Been Brewing

Raphael's sister, Cecile*, was also at the apartment that night. But unlike LeGend, Cecile wasn't staying at the apartment for a happy reason. She was there out of fear. Less than a week earlier her baby's father, 22-year-old Ryson Ellis, and hit her on the head and snatched their child out of her arms. 

Her brothers did not take the assault lightly.  The next day, June 23, they went to the home Ellis shared with his mother, Wanda*, and confronted him. The confrontation turned into an altercation. Ellis was wounded. Wanda threatened Raphael and his brothers with a gun. They left. 

The dispute was far from over. Fearing that Ellis would try to harm her, Cecile got an ex-parte order of protection and decided to stay with her mother and brother. While LeGend dreamed his dreams in his cushion fort, Celia settled down to sleep on the couch.


f June 29, 2020. 2:30 am.

Arrested in Tulsa. and charged August 13, 2020; second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of armed criminal action. On December 2, 2022, pled guilty and was sentenced to concurrent sentences, the longest being for murder -- 17 to 22 years.

Raphael's mom's apartment.

Citadel Apartments  -- Dad's apartment

From behind a back yard privacy fence through a sliding glass door and into LeGend's head. Taken to hospital by family and pronounced dead.

A woman drove Ellis to Citadel Apartments, said Ellis got out of the car. Witness heard gunshots. Ellis returned running. Rented Ford Fusion on surveillance footage, crept up to the building. Told police she didn't know what Ellis was planning and only learned later that a murder had taken place. Ford was rented June 23 - July 3.

Police moved quickly. Released images of vehicle and offered reward. FBI doubled the reward. 

Many anonymous tips identified Ellis as the shooter. 

Operation Legend. As of DATE more than 150 arrests in Kansas City area. Offered federal assistance to local law enforcement in high-crime cities. Agents, intel analysis, digital evidence experts, field office staff, and professional support staff. 

As police rushed to the scene, they were told that family members were driving the young shooting victim to the hospital. 

Awoke to the sound of gunshots. 

$25,000 reward offered.

Sources:

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