Authorities arrested two more suspects, an 18-year-old and a 14-year-old, as part of Baltimore Police’s investigation of the mass shooting at Brooklyn Homes in early July that killed two and injured 28 others.
News of the arrests comes a day after city officials released a scathing after-action report that detailed the various failures of police and other agencies in the leadup to Brooklyn Day, an annual community block party at a public housing complex in South Baltimore. This year’s iteration drew close to 1,000 people but police did not provide any staffing or security, despite the department’s social media unit learning of the event three days ahead of time.
The pair of arrests brings the total number of people facing charges in connection to the mass shooting to four, though no one has been charged in the killings of 18-year-old Aaliyah Gonzalez and 20-year-old Kylis Fagbemi.
Aaron Brown, 18, faces 10 counts of attempted first-degree murder and seven counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, according to court records in his case. Brown is also charged with numerous assault and gun charges, and faces 68 charges total stemming from the Brooklyn shooting. In addition to those, he is charged with attempted murder in connection to a May 19 shooting in the 4600 block of Harford Road.
The 14-year-old was arrested at a school, Acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley said Thursday morning. Court records in this suspect’s case are not available because of their age, and it was not immediately clear from a news conference with city officials exactly what the teen was charged with.
The police department raised the reward for information in the killings of Fagbemi and Gonzalez to $88,000.
Worley said the department knows of at least 10 shooters from that evening, but is still looking to identify them. Worley said previously there were more than 100 casings recovered from the scene — The Baltimore Sun previously reported that casings from at least a dozen firearms were recovered.
“We want to make sure we know exactly who they were, where they were and what direction they shot,” he said.
Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates called the day of the shooting one of the city’s “darkest” but affirmed that authorities are unified in arresting who they believe are responsible.
Of the four arrested, one minor is facing charges for gun possession but has not been charged in connection to a shooting; his attorney has said the gun he was filmed holding at Brooklyn Day was a toy.
[ Brooklyn mass shooting: Police commander reassigned and new report details ‘officer indifference’ ]
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Brown faces similar charges to 18-year-old Tristan Jackson, who is also charged in the case and who was with Brown the night of the annual Brooklyn Day event, according to court records.
Police say Brown and Jackson used the same Glock 17 handgun with an extended magazine to shoot at people during the early morning chaos at Brooklyn Homes, according to court records. Authorities have recovered shell casings from the scene from at least a dozen guns.
Court records show Brown is accused of shooting at a group of people who were also shooting at him while in the area of Gretna Court — where Gonzalez was also fatally shot. Brown is said to have waived his Miranda rights and told detectives that he did participate in the shooting, and that he was also shot in the hand, court records show.
After being shot in the hand, Brown, along with Jackson and two other people they were with, ran toward 8th Street and Stoll Street where the Glock was passed to Jackson, according to court records. Jackson, who is charged with seven counts of attempted first-degree murder, then shot at a group of seven people, according to records in his case.
Police say they recovered the gun when they went to arrest Brown Aug. 8 on a warrant for attempted murder charges in the May 19 shooting.
[ How did Baltimore’s Brooklyn Day mass shooting happen? Key takeaways from report on police, Housing Authority, others ]
”I’m not frustrated with the investigation,” Worley said. “Our detectives are working around the clock … I wish we could go faster, but you can’t force an investigation to go any quicker than the evidence, and the manpower.
This article will update.
