{"id":284839,"date":"2026-05-26T15:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/284839\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T15:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T15:50:13","slug":"he-was-just-love-family-speaks-out-after-14-year-old-killed-in-st-pete-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/284839\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018He was just love\u2019: Family speaks out after 14-year-old killed in St. Pete shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 St. Petersburg Police are looking for two teens they say are connected to the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy. The shooting happened Friday on 15th Avenue South in St. Pete\u2019s Child\u2019s Park neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just love. Gaige was just love, you know. He was just a baby. And craziness took him away from us all,\u201d said Brooke Golanoski, the victim\u2019s stepmother.<\/p>\n

\u00a019-year-old killed in \u2018tragic\u2019 Plant City crash; driver charged after waiting to call 911: officials\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

His family described him as energetic, caring and family-oriented. They spoke to 8 On Your Side while trying to face a devastating reality. Their 14-year-old brother and son Gaige Santos-Brown was shot and killed Friday, just blocks away from their home.<\/p>\n

His father, Rufus Brown, said Gaige and another teen were at the house before the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went in the house and told the dude, bro, you got to go. You know, you don\u2019t put up no positive ways. You up to no good,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Brown said both teens left, then he got a call about his son at the Shadyside Market on 15th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI rode down there and seen him lying on the ground,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt put me numb. They, you know, put me in shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a growing memorial there Monday. As the pain for this family grows, they said they have a lot of questions and want to know why this happened.<\/p>\n

The police arrested at 16-year-old<\/a> in the case. He is charged with felony murder and violation of supervised release. But police are looking for two more teens, one of which this family said they believe was at their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing Gaige was, to a fault, that was loyal,\u201d said Selena Brown, Gaige\u2019s sister. \u201cSo for a friend, someone that we trusted, someone that he trusted to turn around and do something like this is just. It just. You can\u2019t explain that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though they hurt for the loss of Gaige, Golanski said she can\u2019t help but feel for the suspects\u2019 families and their mothers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho would even imagine that a kid that age is carrying a gun? Anybody? It\u2019s 16. Any of them. They\u2019re all babies. What are they doing with them? How are they even getting them? I know she did everything she could do,\u201d Golanoski said.<\/p>\n

The family asks for support, prayers, and justice. Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact St. Pete police.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WFLA.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (WFLA) \u2014 St. Petersburg Police are looking for two teens they say are connected to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[120930,120669,120929,120931,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-284839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-brooke-golanoski","tag-gaige","tag-rufus-brown","tag-selena-brown","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}