Phillips County marks first anniversary of Undersheriff Brandon Gaede's death
Phillipsburg now carries Brandon Gaede’s name on a town-square memorial and the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial, a year after the 30-year-old undersheriff was shot during a fireworks call.
Phillipsburg has added Brandon Gaede’s name to the town-square memorial, and the Kansas Law Enforcement Memorial now lists the Phillips County undersheriff nearly a year after he was killed during a fireworks call on 1st Street.
Gaede, 30, died on June 27, 2025, after officers responded to reports of illegal, non-consumer-grade fireworks at 899 1st Street in Phillipsburg around 9:28 p.m. Law enforcement identified the suspect as 27-year-old Kolton Griffith, also reported in some coverage as Colton Griffith, and authorities said Griffith also died in the exchange. Gaede was taken to Phillips County Hospital and died shortly after arrival.
The loss hit a county of fewer than 5,000 residents, where the sheriff’s office had already spent years building ties through routine patrols, jail operations and mutual aid calls. Gaede had served eight years with the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office and had recently been promoted to undersheriff. He started in law enforcement in 2013 as a jailer with the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office, then joined Phillips County in June 2017.
His death also triggered a broader law-enforcement response beyond Phillipsburg. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation asked the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office to lead the independent investigation, and authorities later linked the case to a larger explosives investigation. That connection turned a local fireworks complaint into a major criminal probe with regional attention.
Support for Gaede’s family became part of the community’s response. Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly ordered flags lowered to half-staff on July 5, 2025, the day funeral services were held after a visitation on July 3. A procession brought Gaede home to Phillipsburg from Wichita, where mourners gathered around Karlye Gaede and the couple’s three children, Axel, Otto and Emilie.
The memorials now mark what Phillips County lost and what still remains unresolved: the danger officers face when a routine call turns deadly, and the burden carried by a small sheriff’s office when one of its own does not come home.
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