14-Year-Old Boy, 18-Year-Old Face Multiple Attempted Murder Charges In Brooklyn Homes Mass Shooting
All 4 Suspects Arrested Thus Far are Teens
By Gary Gately
A 14-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man have been arrested on multiple counts of attempted murder in the July 2 Brooklyn Homes mass shooting that left two people dead and 28 others wounded.
The arrests, announced Thursday, bring to four the number charged in the shooting, all of them teens,that left more people wounded than any other in recent Baltimore history.
Aaron Brown, the 18-year-old – who had already been jailed on a prior gun charge and a May shooting in Lauraville, where he lives – faces first-degree attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, assault and weapons charges – among 75 counts, Baltimore police said.
Charging documents state that Brown arrived at Brooklyn Homes for the annual Brooklyn Day celebration on July 1 with three others. They include Tristan Jackson, who was arrested about two weeks ago and charged with first-degree attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the mass shooting.
Brown was being held without bond Thursday night.
The 14-year-old boy, whose name was not released, has been was arrested at a Baltimore high school and charged with 18 counts, including first-degree attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
“As BPD continues to work tirelessly on the investigation into the critical incident that occurred on July 2, 2023, in Brooklyn Homes, we will continue to make progress holding those who committed these acts accountable,” said Acting Baltimore Police Department Commissioner Richard J. Worley Jr. “I also need to highlight the efforts of our community collaborators who are partnering with us to build and strengthen our relationships with all of our residents.”
For his part, Mayor Brandon M. Scott, who has nominated Worley to be Baltimore’s next top cop, said: “Beginning to heal the trauma of this horrific mass shooting is going to require accountability. Today, with these arrests, we take one step closer to holding those who made the reckless decision to pull the trigger without any regard to the lives around them accountable.”
The arrests came a day after the release of a damning report on major failings in the department’s response to the Brooklyn Homes shootings.
The 173-page report – by the BPD, the city Fire Department, the Office of Emergency Management nd compiled by the city’s police and fire departments, its Office of Emergency Management, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, and the Housing Authority of Baltimore — faulted the police department for its “indifference” as the crowd grew to more than 900 people.
Indifference would seem an understatement. The BPD did not not dispatch officers to Brooklyn Homes even after numerous warnings that signaled things were getting out of control quickly. Indeed, hours before all hell broke loose around 12:30 a.m. on July 2, callers reported in 911 calls hundreds of people wielding guns and knives, to which a dispatcher responded: “We might have to redirect that call to the National Guard then.”
A supervisor told a dispatcher: “Yeah, we are not going into that crowd,” and employed police code to say no services were needed.
Similarly, when the police chopper Foxtrot flew over the huge, increasingly unruly crowd, a dispatcher gave the all-clear from the sky, saying officers on the ground need not respond.
The violence-intervention organization Safe Streets also failed in its role of informing police about the size of the mushrooming crowd and looming dangers of violence, the report found.
The Housing Authority of Baltimore City, which owns and operates Brooklyn Homes, claimed it knew nothing of the Brooklyn Day celebration until around 3 a.m. July 2. The event had been widely publicized on social media and in posters.
This mass shooting is one of the most painful chapters in our city’s history, which has had more than its fair share of painful chapters,” Mayor Scott said at a news conference Wednesday. “The only way we can heal the trauma is to begin by focusing on accountability. Accountability for those who committed the crime; accountability for the police or anyone who showed indifference; accountability for a city government that made missteps; and taking action to ensure that this never happens again in our city.”
Worley took on a conciliatory tone, telling reporters: "We know we made mistakes. It was important that our after action report not only mentioned those mistakes, highlighted those mistakes and shortcomings, but also provides recommendations to improve and learn from.”
The 59-year-old Worley, who reported in financial disclosure statements that he lives in the Anne Arundel County community of Edgewater, said “multiple” BPD employees have been disciplined over the Brooklyn Homes failings and that the commander for the Southern District, which includes the complex, has been replaced.
But Worley repeated his previous assertion that the BPD did not know of the event because organizers had not applied for event permits. That contradicts Worley’s admission just two days after the mass shooting that police, in fact, knew of the event the morning of July 1.