Fundraising underway to help support family of Peoria teenager killed in shooting

The college coach of a former Peoria High School basketball player who was killed April 30 has set up a GoFundMe page to help support his family.

Brandon Burgette, head men's basketball coach at Kansas City Kansas Community College, created a fundraiser May 2 in honor of MikeQuese Taylor, a freshman guard at KCKCC and 2023 Peoria High grad who was shot and killed April 30 in the 100 block of East Forrest Hill Avenue.

Burgette is seeking to raise $10,000 to go to Taylor's family to help with funeral expenses and to help his mother, Nijja. As of May 5, the fundraiser has seen $3,791 worth of donations.

Burgette said that the team, which went 22-10 during the 2023-24 season, would miss their fallen comrade, who brought a new spirit to the team when he joined.

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"His competitive spirit, contagious laugh, and sense of humor will be deeply missed," Burgette said in the fundraising post.

Taylor was found at 7:20 p.m. April 30 with a gunshot wound and was transported to OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 7:41 p.m. Friends of Taylor said that he had been home from college to see his newborn son and was in his driveway when he was shot.

As a basketball player, Taylor was an All-Big 12 selection in his senior year at Peoria High before heading off to KCKCC to play junior college ball for two years. He finished fourth on the team in scoring with 10.3 points per game on 50.3% shooting from the field, also averaging just under four rebounds and 1.4 assists, albeit with a negative assist-to-turnover ratio with 1.6 TOs per game.

As of May 5, the Peoria Police Department said that no suspects had been identified and an investigation into Taylor's death was ongoing.

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