Kyle Nicholas Bruner
UPDATE: Today (May 14, 2013) Rick Bruner reported: I have just been informed that Bahamian police have apprehended the alleged shooter in my son’s murder and the shipmate who was with Kyle at the time of the shooting, positively identified him from a police lineup.
Yesterday I received the horrifying news that the son of my good high school friend Rick Bruner had been murdered. This was Rick’s message to his friends:
It is a very sad morning as I bid farewell to my son, Kyle Nicholas Bruner, 1st mate of the Yankee Clipper, age 33, sailor, poet, teacher, musician and rascal, who was shot and killed this day on a street in Nassau, Bahamas. He did the things he loved. He loved and was loved by many. He was at times exasperating and inspiring… charming and maddening. He loved the sea and it always called him back from where ever he might have seemed settled. We will miss him, but we won’t be alone in that.
Later in the day, we found out that Kyle had been shot while trying to protect two women who were being mugged.
As Rick put it, “It doesn’t make it any easier to handle, but it fits with the way he lived his life.”
Rick’s niece, Kelly Wright, perhaps put it best: “You know you’ve raised a good son when he gives his life to protect another. The world is poorer today for his loss.”
It certainly is. I never met Kyle. But from everything I have learned from my close to twenty years in the victims rights movement, I know there is nothing in this world worse than losing a child. And I know there is no way more tragic to lose a child than to murder. My deepest sympathies go out to Kyle’s entire family and all of his friends.
But I also know this: Dying in the defense of someone else is a legacy that lives on forever. To all of the descriptives Rick used about his son, let me humbly add one more:
Hero.
Rest in Peace, Kyle. And may your memory never fade.
Still gives me the chills when I returned Aboard Liberty Clipper that morning and heard the news. I enjoyed working with him and he was always there when I needed a hand with things. Very tragic to lose to
a crewmember like that. Prayers out to him and Family and Friends.
opened my eyes to that “Thin veil of Paradise” that is The Bahamas
again.
This One Is Personal – http://t.co/YasQJjExhr http://t.co/YasQJjExhr
Where are we at in finding this son of a bitch? Sorry, but it is personal.
It could just as easily been any one of us. What is the status of the investigation?
Never mind SSA’s, I see the current status and I am going to keep an eye on it. God Bless you my brother for protecting the women who depend on us to do so. You didn’t let them down in fact you likely saved their life. Your soul is strong with us and badge or no badge your law enforcement and you died protecting others. Your an inspiration to all of us.
I can’t think of anything adequate to say. All I can come up with is I’m sorry for your loss and thank you Kyle for bravely performing a civic duty.
Thank you so much, Josephine. Rick will be touched to know that Kyle’s story has reached all the way to Australia.
What a beautiful description of Kyle from his father (sailor, poet, teacher, musician and rascal). I couldn’t imagine a sadder pain than losing a child. My sincere condolences to Kyle’s family. It must give them some comfort he died in service to others.