UPDATE: Candlelight vigil planned for shooting victim Jessica Brandon
Posted By: Bayley Bischof Channel 8 Eyewitness News
Friends of Jessica Brandon, the 36-year-old Lincoln woman killed at her home Wednesday morning, are organizing a candlelight vigil in her honor.
The vigil is planned for Thursday, August 2 at Havelock Park at 8:00 p.m.
Organizers are asking attendees to bring their own candles.
A loving mother, grandmother and friend, was taken from this world too soon, friends of 36-year-old Jessica Brandon said Wednesday.
Brandon was killed in a home invasion turned shooting at her Northwest Lincoln home overnight Tuesday.
“For her to be taken away from us so soon it felt like my heart was breaking,” said one of Brandon’s friends.
At least two intruders forced their way into Brandon’s home near 20th and Fairfield at 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, Lincoln Police Chief Jeff Bliemeister said Wednesday.
15 minutes later, comes a 911 call that a woman had suffered a gunshot wound, police said.
That woman was Brandon. Despite multiple people doing CPR on her, she died at Bryan West Hospital at 5:00 a.m.
"Details established in the home invasion and the deplorable violence that followed was not random,” Bliemeister said. “Because of that we believe there is no ongoing threat to the community."
Bliemeister said they do have persons of interest in the case, but did not say how many or who they were.
They haven’t pinned down a motive in the shooting, and also said it’s unclear whether or not Brandon was the target of the shooting, Bliemeister said.
"Our investigators are reviewing details of the interviews with two adults and four children inside the home,” Bliemeister said. “And physical evidence is being processed.”
Many of Brandon’s friends have said they want the world to know how wonderful Brandon was.
“Everyone loved her big bright smile,” Melissa Wagner said. “Anytime she walked in the room and she had her smile on, it was like there was nobody else in the room.”
Wagner has known Brandon since they went to high school together at Northeast.
She said Brandon has been a Nebraska girl her whole life, and has raised three children and had two grandchildren here.
She had just started working at Allstate, and had moved into her home in Northwest Lincoln within the last year, Wagner said.
In response to the tragic way her friend lost her life, she said she was heartbroken.
“I’m mad and I’m angry but most of all I’m sad because she’s not going to be here,” Wagner said.
Another friend said they really needed Brandon’s outlook on life right now.
“She was just so positive,” Carissa Craft said. “I think that’s what’s making this so hard because she was the positive voice in every negative situation.”
Craft, who met Brandon through her son, said more than anything, she was an incredible mother, and grandmother.
“She loved so hard,” Craft said. “She loved her kids so much. She has two grandkids that are spoiled rotten by her because she loved them so much."
She said she opened her home to every single one of her children’s friends, and made everyone feel like family.
Which is why Craft is urging you to come forward if you know anything about this crime.
“So many lives are touched because one person is gone, and it’s not fair to not get justice for her. She deserves it.”
The police department is also asking for the communities help with this crime.
If anybody who lives or works in the area of 20th and Fairfield and has video surveillance, Bliemeister asked you call police at 402-441-6000.
You can also leave an anonymous tip with Crimestoppers at 402-475-3600.
You can also help support the family with funeral and other costs at this Go Fund Me page: https://www.gofundme.com/help-support-the-brandon-family?
