Latest Brooklyn Day Shooting Defendant Pleads Guilty

By Racquel Bazos [former] - May 21, 2024
Attempted Murder | Court | Daily Stories | Non-Fatal Shooting | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge accepted the guilty plea of a 19-year-old accused of participating in the 2023 Brooklyn Day mass shooting at a May 17 hearing.

Aaron Brown faced over 50 charges related to the shooting, including attempted first- and second-degree murder, assault weapon or magazine use, rioting and various other firearms and assault charges. He was not charged with the murders of 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi, who were killed during the mass shooting on July 2, 2023, but the prosecution stipulated he could be charged with their deaths should new evidence come to light. 

Brown, 19, agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder for his involvement in the Brooklyn Day shooting, as well as attempted first-degree murder and firearm use in a felony violent crime in a separate incident last May.

In exchange, prosecutors offered him 60 years, suspending all but 12 years of incarceration, for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, with five years of supervised probation. For attempted first-degree murder, the plea deal offered the same sentence, as well as five years without the possibility of parole, for firearm use in a felony violent crime. All sentences across the two cases will run concurrently.

The prosecution read a statement of facts to substantiate Brown’s guilty plea. Regarding Brooklyn Day, the prosecutor said Brown told Baltimore Police Department (BPD) investigators after his arrest that he had been at the block party and shot at three individuals with masks, who had first shot at him.

Brown had received treatment on the day of the shooting for a gunshot wound to the hand, which corroborated his statement. In a search warrant executed on Brown’s home, police found a Glock 17 handgun with Brown’s DNA on it. Brown claimed he had found the gun on the ground, shot at his assailants in self-defense and then handed it to co-defendant Tristan Jackson, who the prosecutor said shot a group of seven people. 

In the attempted murder case, the prosecution said the BPD detective who questioned him for the Brooklyn Homes shooting identified him as the suspect in a shooting on the 4600 block of Harford Road. Brown allegedly shot at a gray Honda, whose driver fled on foot. The bullets hit a local business, causing property damage. The gun police found in Brown’s home was consistent with the ballistics evidence in both incidents. 

Though they didn’t address Brown’s character in court, defense attorney Roya Hanna told Judge Jeffrey M. Geller Brown’s father and sister were present in the courtroom to support him. Brown’s sister simply said they loved him. The judge thanked them for coming. 

“Folks would like to see you sent to prison for a long time,” Judge Geller said to Brown. Despite that wish, he remained hopeful Brown would use his time productively. Though Judge Geller couldn’t guarantee Brown’s acceptance, he said he would send a letter recommending him to the Patuxent Youthful Offenders Program, an intensive rehabilitation program offered by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. 

“Please do the best you can to make yourself a better person,” advised the judge before sentencing Brown per the terms of the plea agreement. 

Brown is the latest defendant charged for the Brooklyn Day mass shooting who has pleaded guilty. Earlier this month, Baltimore Witness reported on two juvenile defendants, who each received a sentence of 25 years, suspending all but five years.