05x14 - The Boy in Blue

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: a 12-year-old boy with the world at his feet...

I love you. [ Smooches ]

See you when I get off work, okay?

...gunned down in broad daylight.

With detectives facing a wall of silence...

We expect people to lie to us, frankly.

Narrator: ...only surveillance footage can reveal the truth...

You shot him in the back.

♪♪

There's enough video-surveillance cameras

To cover virtually every movement.

Yes, yes, that's perfect.

Narrator: ...and take a k*ller off the streets.

It was really important to me we got justice.

The only thing I wanted to know was why.

♪♪

--Captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

Narrator: april 28th, 2010,

Bryn mawr-skyway on the banks of lake washington.



Is a budding entrepreneur...

[ Lawn mower whirring ]

...chasing the american dream.

Alajawan decided he wanted to have his own money.

He would take a few hand tools, the lawn mower,

And he would just go an canvass the neighborhood.

He was not at all shy.

If your grass was tall or you had weeds,

He was gonna knock on your door

And secure your business.

Narrator: and the money he earns goes

Straight towards his favorite hobby.

♪♪

Alajawan did dream of becoming a football player.

Same time next week?

That was his goal, and with that,

He was going to take care of his father and me.

Narrator: at 5'8", he's man-sized,

But he's still a 12-year-old boy

And never too old for a hug.

Alajawan's relationship with his mom was unbelievable.

He loved his mom more than he loved his self.

[ Sighs ] [ chuckles ]

What are you doing?

I mean, they just had this special bond.

Mom,

I got the last of the money together for my cleats today.

Okay.

Can I get a ride to walmart tomorrow?

Whoa, whoa, hold on. Your mama said

That she's gonna give me a ride after work tomorrow.

I can drop you at the bus stop, though.

That would be great.

Thanks.

♪♪

Narrator: the next afternoon, alajawan's parents drop him off

At the bus stop next to the 7-eleven.

All right, bud. [ Laughs ]

Alajawan: all right.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

I love you. [ Smooches ]

See you when I get off work, okay?

All right. Hang on. Hang on.

Dinner will be ready when you get home.

Thanks. Love you, too.

Ayanna: told my baby I loved him,

And I'll see him when I get off work.

♪♪

Narrator: 5:58 p.m., A panicked 911 call

Comes into the king county sheriff's office.

Dispatch: 20 shots heard in the last minute,

The cedar village townhouses.

Narrator: officers are immediately dispatched to cedar village.

Officer #1: four zebra en route.

Officer #2: car 62 en route.

Copy.

Deputy sheriff john hall is one of the first on the scene.

We slowly made our way into the apartment complex on foot

Just to clear for our safety.

We knew nothing more than there had been a sh**ting there.

When I approached the victim,

I could see that he had been shot.

He was moaning and crying for help.

Narrator: deputy hall calls for backup.

Hall: my guys to keep that scene secure

Until our major crimes detectives arrived on scene.

[ Indistinct police radio chatter ]

Narrator: as officers attend to the crime scene,

Dispatch's switchboard lights up with a second 911 call

From another spot near the first.

It's just a block away from cedar village apartments.

[ Siren wailing ]

♪♪

When king county sheriff's office deputies

First arrived at 7-eleven,

They found a young man on the floor

Right at the threshold of the entrance to the 7-eleven.

Cpr was being attempted by some bystanders.

Nobody really knew what had happened to him

Beyond the sounds of g*nf*re and then him collapsing.

Narrator: the officers take over.

Their training kicks in as they work frantically

To keep the victim alive.

♪♪

It's too late.

He's pronounced dead at the scene.

♪♪

It's nearly dinnertime as the browns

Wait for alajawan to return home.

Started cooking dinner.

It was, like, a beef casserole.

Narrator: alajawan isn't usually one to miss his dad's signature dish.

Louis: I kind of felt something was wrong.

That's not him, not answering his phone,

Not returning my calls or anything.

And I'm calling my baby.

He's not answering.

Louis jr.: At this point, we are calling all of his friends,

"Hey, is alajawan over there with you?

I'm calling him. He's not answering the phone.

No one has heard from him."

I'm gonna k*ll him when I find him...

...for scaring me like this.

[ Indistinct police radio chatter ]

Narrator: detective mike mellis arrives at the 7-eleven crime scene.

It's immediately clear

That the victim has been shot in the back.

This was not a heart attack.

This wasn't some other medical emergency.

This was a g*nsh*t wound that this young man died from.

Narrator: detectives now have a homicide on their hands.

♪♪

His appearance is that of an older teenager.

Narrator: but they have no idea who he is.

Mellis: physical evidence that was collected at the scene

Was really quite minimal.

♪♪

There were no fire-cartridge cases

That were located at the 7-eleven.

Mellis: there was a great possibility

That he had been shot up at the cedar village

And somehow made his way down to the 7-eleven

Where he finally collapsed and died.

♪♪

But then we got lucky and found a signpost

That had a b*llet strike right into it.

Narrator: with two shots fired and no spent casings

Found in the immediate vicinity...

This would suggest to the investigators

That it was a revolver used to k*ll the victim.

♪♪

Narrator: it's past dinnertime, and alajawan is still not home.

He is now violating curfew.

♪♪

I'm starting to grow more and more worried, so unlike him.

♪♪

Narrator: with serious concerns for her son's safety,

Ayanna goes to look for him.

Ayanna: and I took pictures with me.

My husband stayed home. What he told me was,

"I'll just stay here in case he shows up."

Narrator: ayanna retraces the route they had taken

Earlier that day back to the 7-eleven.

♪♪

I'm at the 7-eleven,

And I see the body laying under the sheet.

♪♪

I hold my composure. I don't want --

I'm not going to allow myself to jump to conclusions

And think the worst.

There was an officer who approached me.

Said, "I'm looking for my baby."

He's about 12 years old.

He was supposed to come home, and he hasn't been home yet,

So do you mind just checking for me, please?

She said, "well, let me go and talk to the detective,

And I'll be right back."

♪♪

And then they walk back over to me

And apologized that they had to tell me

That was my baby laying there.

♪♪

♪♪

I just remember screaming, "no!

No!"

♪♪

♪♪

Kid being 12 years old

Just put an extra emphasis of tragedy to this.

♪♪

Narrator: within the space of four minutes,

The local community has been rocked by two shootings...

♪♪

...nearly a block apart.

My hunch is the same persons

Involved at the cedar village apartment

Are involved at the 7-eleven store.

♪♪

Narrator: there's one potential witness

That could give detectives the answer.

I knew that the 7-eleven had cameras

That were exterior on the building

And pointed right towards where the sh**ter was.

Narrator: and if he's in luck, the footage could lead

The investigators straight to alajawan's k*ller.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: ayanna brown has just discovered her 12-year-old son, alajawan,

Gunned down in broad daylight.

♪♪

Ayanna: I'm kind of in and out of [sniffles] reality.

♪♪

I know what they told me,

But I'm not accepting that. I'm not really believing it.

♪♪

♪♪

He's dead.

♪♪

I just grabbed ayanna and held her, and...

♪♪

I mean, everything just went to, you know, pieces.

♪♪

It's a 12-year-old kid life you took

And not even that you took his life.

You shot him in the back.

♪♪

The only thing I wanted to know was why.

♪♪

♪♪

We felt helpless.

There was nothing we could do.

We were at the mercy of the local authorities.

Narrator: with a k*ller on the loose,

It's the police who need to ask some difficult questions.

It's a part of the job and never gets easier,

Even for some seasoned investigators.

Hall: we had to speak with the family members

To get a picture of who the victim is.

We were asked if he was g*ng-affiliated.

Had we been having any problems with him?

And of course the answer was -- you know, was no.

Didn't have any enemies.

Hall: he was just a kid,

And he was simply taking the bus home.

He just went to get his football cleats.

And in fact he was, by all accounts,

Just a remarkable young man

With a very bright and hopeful future,

The son of very good parents.

♪♪

Narrator: back at 7-eleven,

Detective mellis asks to view the store's surveillance.

Mellis: I was familiar with their system.

I had grabbed video from them before.

I knew that the exterior cameras

That seemingly pointed straight at the crime scene

Were potentially recording the whole m*rder itself,

Fed into the vhs tape.

I'm detective mellis.

Can I see the footage from the camera outside the door?

♪♪

There was no tape in the vhs player.

Narrator: so it wasn't recording that day.

What about the internal cameras?

They bring up the camera

Covering the entrance to the store.

Can you queue it up to 6:00 p.m.?

The time of the 911 calls.

Hopefully, the cameras from this angle can provide clues.

♪♪

Roll forward. [ Key clicks ]

♪♪

Mellis: a king county metro bus stops right in front of the 7-eleven.

One of the figures that gets off the bus

In the background is a male

Dressed in a navy or light-blue jacket.

♪♪

Narrator: it's alajawan.

♪♪

He's swinging along a bag, a white plastic bag

Consistent with a bag that would hold a shoebox perhaps

Or an object about that size.

Narrator: alajawan heads in the direction of his home.

♪♪

It's clear he wasn't shot at cedar village,

So the sh**ting must have taken place at the 7-eleven...

♪♪

...but from this camera,

No one appears to be reacting to a g*nsh*t.

♪♪

Stop there. [ Mouse clicks ]

A brief time passes, a minute or so,

And then the next thing that draws your attention

Is the center or the lower center of the screen,

And that's when you see alajawan crawling across the ground.

♪♪

Narrator: it's shocking footage

And leaves detective mellis horrified at what he's seen.

♪♪

You can clearly see there's distress on his demeanor,

If not his face.

It's very sad to see a young man die like that

Right in front of your eyes on the screen.

♪♪

We're always looking for that one thing

That stands out that's very specific.

We don't have the sh**ter in this frame,

Don't know what provoked the sh**ter to sh**t alajawan.

The video really offers us no explanation as to why.

We were determined to find out who k*lled alajawan brown.

♪♪

Narrator: as detective mellis is leaving, a witness grabs his attention.

She claims she was driving past the store

At the time of the m*rder.

Stacy sparks had pulled up

And was waiting for the left-hand turn.

She actually noticed alajawan, a young man.

He was wearing a blue jacket.

He was carrying a bag, and when I was there,

A maroon cadillac pulled up behind me.

She noticed in her rearview mirror that a large stocky man

Had gotten out of the maroon cadillac.

He pulled out a g*n, and he shot that young man that I saw.

And then what happened?

Narrator: stacy claims the man got into a black cadillac.

He seems two cars could be linked to the sh**ting.

What did the man look like?

Bald.

Black.

He looked a lot like the rapper scarface.

♪♪

At the time, the rapper scarface was a well-known rapper.

He would've been about 40 years old,

So she's describing a guy in his 40s or so, larger build.

That's good, good information.

Narrator: the witness claims she saw a stocky man

Exit a maroon cadillac, sh**t alajawan,

Then leave the scene in a black cadillac.

♪♪

It could be the lead detectives need

To track down alajawan's k*ller.

[ Indistinct police radio chatter ]

I have them going to a 7-eleven parking lot.

♪♪

Alajawan's sh**ting isn't the only one in skyway that day.

The victim from cedar village,

Identified as jonathan jackson, is still clinging to life.

Paramedic unit stabilized him as best they could,

And then they rushed him to harborview medical center.

Narrator: deputy hall is struggling to find any leads.

Tell me what happened here?

♪♪

Hall: those that were present when the sh**ting took place,

They were providing us with no information.

Narrator: all investigators are able to glean

Is that jackson is allegedly affiliated with the bloods.

Bloods?

But this is crip territory.

The evidence points to a g*ng shootout,

Crips in blue versus bloods in red,

But for now it's all speculation.

♪♪

In a homicide case where either the victims

Or suspects are g*ng members,

We find it quite often that witnesses or coconspirators

Or quite often even victims don't want to cooperate.

Narrator: so he searches for a different kind of witness.

I saw cameras that were positioned

Onto the buildings themselves,

And they appeared to be facing in the direction

Of the parking lot where the sh**ting took place.

♪♪

Narrator: deputy hall seeks out the apartment supervisor.

How you doing, sir? Sheriff's deputy hall.

Just wonder if I can grab some footage

Of your surveillance camera back there.

♪♪

Hall: this is fantastic.

We are going to get video of this sh**ting

And find the person or persons involved.

Narrator: but there's a snag.

The files are corrupt and can't be played.

Deputy hall takes the hard drive

To see if forensics can recover the data,

But that will take time.

While investigators have been searching

For the scarface look-alike,

The senseless sh**ting of a 12-year-old in the back

Hits the evening news.

There was news reports about the k*lling at the 7-eleven.

Reporter: investigators say it all started

At the cedar village apartments near skyway,

But it was a second round when witnesses say

They knew something was really wrong.

Man: this got to end.

This got to end. You know, it's foolishness.

Reporter: detectives say witnesses remain uncooperative,

And no suspects have been named.

Narrator: shortly after the report airs, a call comes into headquarters.

Security guard at bank of america,

Which was a few miles away, called police and said

That he had been watching the security cameras,

And he had seen this black cadillac that had pulled up,

Saw a man get out and run off into the bushes,

And then get back in the car and drive away.

Just up ahead here?

Narrator: after the man left, the guard checked the area

And made a disturbing discovery.

There in the field hidden under some debris

Were three handguns.

Found them here just like this?

♪♪

The three weapons included a revolver, silver, .38 caliber.

♪♪

There were two rounds fired from that weapon.

It was otherwise full of ammunition.

Narrator: the g*ns are sent to ballistics

For testing against the b*llet that k*lled alajawan

And the b*llet lodged in the post at the 7-eleven.

The person disposing of these g*ns

Very well could've been the k*ller.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: just hours after two shootings

Have rocked the skyway community...

Right here?

...detectives have recovered weapons

Next to a bank of america depository.

♪♪

It was a really poor choice of place for them

To try to dispose of the g*ns.

There's enough video surveillance cameras

To cover virtually every movement.

Narrator: the security manager pulls up the camera

Where they first noticed suspicious activity.

♪♪

Mellis: we first turned our attention to the entry and exit gates.

♪♪

The video showed that, yes, indeed,

A black cadillac came down that street.

Just after the black cadillac comes into the cul-de-sac,

A second vehicle appears to follow

The cadillac in purposefully,

♪♪

Slows in the cul-de-sac and then leaves.

Didn't know if it was

Somebody who was just driving down the road,

Didn't know if it was an employee of bank of america,

But it was noted.

Roll forward slowly. Can you do that?

[ Keys clacking ]

Narrator: the driver of the black cadillac gets out.

♪♪

Mellis: he appeared to be a black male or darker-skinned male,

Black top, white or light-colored shorts.

He then runs off into the woods.

♪♪

Do you have any other angles of this field?

Narrator: the manager shows detective mellis

Where they next saw the intruder on camera.

♪♪

Mellis: our first descriptions of the sh**ter was,

He was a larger-built person, stocky, round head.

That's not what we saw.

The man that runs in the field is clearly a more medium build.

He did not seem consistent with being the actual sh**ter.

So it makes you wonder, is this totally unrelated?

Was stacy sparks mistaken?

Was somebody else involved?

♪♪

Narrator: the cameras have tracked the driver's route

To the exact point in the field

Where the security guard found the g*ns.

♪♪

Can you zoom in?

With his hood up, the man's face is obscured from the camera.

Still can't make that out.

They track the intruder back to his car.

♪♪

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. [ Key clicks ]

Let's rewind that back a bit.

♪♪

Mellis: somebody was in the car moving.

♪♪

Narrator: could the second figure be the g*nman?

There's at least two people that drove down that cul-de-sac.

We were gonna find out who that man in the black car was.

Narrator: detective mellis tries to get a look at the license plate.

Can you zoom in on the license plate?

♪♪

Mellis: having a license-plate number --

Sort of the gold standard from video-surveillance account.

Narrator: but the image isn't clear enough.

♪♪

It's a setback,

But detectives believe the k*ller is in the car.

♪♪

♪♪

As detective mellis leaves the bank of america,

His attention is drawn to the spot

Where the black cadillac had stopped.

Mellis: there was a oil patch in the middle of the cul-de-sac.

The detectives went and checked to see

If there had been any collision reports

And in fact found that there had been a hit-and-run nearby.

♪♪

Narrator: a local woman had reported an incident

Just a few blocks away from the bank

On the day of the sh**ting.

Investigators bring her in for questioning.

She had been sitting at an intersection

Waiting for the light to change

When a black sedan had just run the red light,

Ran into a blue car and took a right

And kept going without stopping at all.

She followed the black car all the way to bank of america

Where she wrote down the license plate.

Narrator: it's a huge break in the case.

Armed with the plate number,

They could be hot on the heels of alajawan's k*ller.

♪♪

Detective mellis runs the license plate

Through the police database.

Mellis: came back to a woman named shaleese walker.

Narrator: the record shows shaleese owns two vehicles.

The other car happened to be a maroon-colored cadillac,

Which interested us because of witness accounts

Of alajawan's k*ller getting out of a maroon car

Before getting into the black cadillac.

Narrator: but detective mellis doesn't want to bring her in

Without more evidence.

One of the first tasks was to do research on ms. Walker

In an attempt to really answer our most basic question is,

Why is ms. Walker's car involved in all of this?

I need to get a surveillance detail put on...

On shaleese walker.

Narrator: while detectives work the case,

The ballistics report comes in.

Crime lab was able to determine that the .38

That they found in the field was in fact the same g*n

That fired the b*llet that k*lled alajawan

And that fired the b*llet into the signpost at the scene.

Narrator: it's almost certain that one of the figures captured on camera

Is the sh**ter at the 7-eleven.

The net is closing in on alajawan's k*ller.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: the brutal sh**ting of 12-year-old alajawan brown

Has shocked the community to its core.

Sorry for your loss.

It's a painful time for all as the family hold a vigil

In the hopes that someone will come forward

With crucial information.

People brought teddy bears, flowers.

People wrote letters and made posters, pictures

Just to really, you know, like, pay their respects,

You know, in any way that they could.

Thank you so much

For coming out today.

Alajawan meant so much to us.

Narrator: but what ayanna brown wants more than anything

Is justice for her son.

It was very, very heartbreaking and just gut-wrenching

To know that somebody out there saw something.

If anyone knows anything,

Please say something.

♪♪

Detectives sometimes make it a habit or investigative step

Of attending things like candlelight vigils.

People that were reluctant to be seen talking to the police,

They might come forward.

Narrator: the investigators' strategy pays off.

While they were attending the vigil,

Detectives were given information from folks

About who they should go talk to,

And one of those people was somebody named c-dub.

C-dub?

Berliner: detectives were able to figure out

That c-dub was curtis walker.

Narrator: the police database reveals he's married to shaleese walker,

The woman who owns the two cadillacs,

And he's connected to the same g*ng

As the cedar village victim, jonathan jackson.

Mellis: he's stocky build,

And frankly, he looks like scarface, the rapper.

Narrator: convinced they're key to unlocking the case,

Detectives bring the walkers in for questioning.

Berliner: detectives talk with both curtis and shaleese separately,

And both of them actually admitted

That they went to the cedar village apartments.

Narrator: curtis says he and his wife, shaleese, went in two cars.

Pc is jonathan jackson.

Ro is another man who he only knows as d-ro.

They all went together.

So jonathan could solve some beef he was having with some guy

Who lived at the apartment complex.

Curtis says, "I was there to back him up."

Narrator: and then it all went wrong.

D-ro took it upon himself to protect jonathan jackson

And fired back at the original sh**ter.

Narrator: curtis says they drove away in the maroon cadillac

And then heard sh**ting coming from the direction

Of the 7-eleven.

D-ro followed them in the black cadillac.

You know, is there --

According to curtis, the sh**ting was all over

By the time they got there.

It contradicts the account of the eyewitness, stacy sparks.

♪♪

Frankly, we didn't know what to believe.

What he said was plausible.

We couldn't deny it.

Narrator: now to see if shaleese's alibi matches her husband's.

Her story to us is that she drives past the 7-eleven

And is able to see that d-ro now drives up next to her car,

And he starts firing out the window of the black car.

D-ro pulls up beside you and starts sh**ting off?

Yes.

So d-ro is the one who shot alajawan brown?

♪♪

Her assumption is -- d-ro is your man.

D-ro is the one who k*lled alajawan brown.

Narrator: it leaves detectives puzzled why curtis didn't mention it.

We expect people to lie to us, frankly.

Narrator: the walkers hand over d-ro's cellphone number

To the detectives.

Dna samples are taken from both of them

To compare with those of the g*ns

Found at the bank of america.

♪♪

Meantime, forensics have managed

To rescue the corrupt footage from cedar village.

Detective mellis queues it up to 5:46 p.m.,

A few minutes before the 911 calls start coming in.

Mellis: we see a number of men hanging out.

There seems to be some kind of a interaction.

Narrator: it's the standoff between rival gangs curtis had described.

They were able to see curtis wearing a leather jacket,

Red brimmed hat.

Doing what he said he was doing,

Which was essentially playing the peacemaker.

Narrator: detective mellis watches on,

Keeping a keen eye out for the sh**ting,

But he's out of luck.

The fight continues off camera.

At the time that g*nf*re occurs, though,

All the significant players, though, had left the screen

Off to the right, so we see jonathan jackson

Literally falling back into the frame of video.

He's immediately approached by a man that crouches next to him.

That man seems consistent

In all his clothing, body shape, and so forth

With the male that later dumps g*ns

At the bank of america field.

We believe that to be d-ro.

♪♪

D-ro sees jonathan jackson be shot point-blank.

♪♪

D-ro fires back.

Narrator: the footage shows he's armed,

Supporting shaleese's version of alajawan's m*rder.

D-ro then leaves in the black cadillac.

Seems to corroborate what mr. Walker has been telling us

And even what mrs. Walker has said at this point.

We can't disprove their story based on the video.

In fact, it's being supported.

Narrator: d-ro is now a suspect in alajawan's m*rder.

♪♪

Detective mellis runs d-ro's number

Through the cellphone provider and gets a hit.

[ Keys clacking ]

♪♪

D-ro's real name is rodrigues rabun,

And he's still using his phone.

It's just clockwork.

He hits towers all the way from the airport,

Continually making phone calls

To his hometown of bastrop, louisiana.

Narrator: now the hunt is on to uncover the truth

And bring alajawan's k*ller to justice.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: detectives have tracked their suspect, rodrigues rabun,



Mellis: we went out to his mother's house trying to find him.

♪♪

He wasn't hard to find.

As soon as we talked to his mother, she called him up.

He voluntarily came down to headquarters

At the local police department and said,

"Yeah, I'll talk to you guys."

♪♪

♪♪

He was polite, and he was seemingly cooperative,

But he immediately made some statements

That we just knew were untrue.

Berliner: rodrigues denied that he knew anything

About alajawan being k*lled.

♪♪

Mellis: then he thought about it.

♪♪

And then he decided he wanted to tell the truth.

♪♪

What do you want to know?

Narrator: detectives ask for his version of events.

True to his word, rodrigues starts from the top

And admits he was at cedar village that day,

Just as curtis said.

D-ro takes a defensive stand

Over jonathan jackson,

Fires back.

♪♪

Narrator: rodrigues says that he looked around,

But curtis and shaleese had gone.

Look, man. I didn't know what to do,

So I just followed them.

And then what happened?

Berliner: when they got to the intersection

By the 7-eleven, rodrigues said he watched

While curtis walker got out of his vehicle.

Mellis: stand in the middle of the street

And fire at a young man wearing all blue.

Alajawan brown and then get in the black cadillac.

Narrator: it contradicts the account given by the walkers,

But it fits exactly with what the eyewitness,

Stacy sparks, told detectives at the crime scene.

So why did he sh**t him?

Mellis: curtis thought that alajawan brown

k*lled jonathan jackson.

Narrator: because alajawan was wearing blue --

The color of the rival g*ng.

It's a tragic case of mistaken identity.

[ Key clicks ]

And can you tell me who this is right here?

♪♪

That's me, man.

Is there anybody else in the car with you?

Curtis is in the car.

Mellis: his statement rang true on every element of this case.

This is the one witness statement

That literally puts it all together,

And frankly, we had no reason to doubt him.

♪♪

Narrator: they get a dna sample just to be sure.

Back at the kings county lab,

Forensics can now compare the samples

From all three suspects

To the g*ns found at the bank of america.

♪♪

On the grip of the .38 revolver,

The lab found dna from all three --

Curtis, shaleese, and rodrigues.

On the trigger of the .38,

The lab found dna belonging to curtis walker.

♪♪

It's clear from evidence

That it was curtis walker who shot alajawan brown.

His dna is on the trigger.

He pulled the trigger. He's the one that k*lled him.

♪♪

Curtis walker shot alajawan brown

Over nothing more than misplaced revenge.

He didn't know who he was k*lling.

It didn't really matter... [ g*nshots ]

...who he was k*lling.

He just wanted to k*ll.

♪♪

Berliner: to have a 12-year-old boy that gets k*lled

Just because he's wearing the wrong color,

It's really hard to put into words how devastating that was.

♪♪

Narrator: in january 2012, the case goes to trial.

It was really important to me and to my office

To make sure that we got justice for alajawan brown.

Narrator: curtis walker is found guilty of first-degree m*rder

And sentenced to 50 years in prison.

In return for his testimony,

Rodrigues is not charged for his role in the shootings,

Nor for the reported hit-and-run.

Shaleese is also not charged with any offense.

Police have never identified jonathan jackson's sh**ter.

Mellis: video evidence in this case were extremely important.

It helped corroborate all the verbal testimony

And discount the possibilities

That they were exaggerations or wholly incorrect.

Narrator: alajawan's life was tragically cut short,

But his spirit lives on in the community.

My husband and I started a foundation

Called the alajawan brown foundation.

Alajawan said he wanted to make a difference in his community.

He started buying his own school supplies

In an effort to help his father and i,

So we carry on his legacy by doing that for other parents.

He's honored every day.

We were able to rename

The local sheriff's office storefront.

The alajawan brown story gets told again and again,

And that's why I know that

There's thousands of people in the skyway community

That would know the name alajawan brown immediately.

I told alajawan, "I love you," at 4:28.

At 6:01,

I didn't have him anymore.

♪♪

Words can't describe how much I miss him.

♪♪

Make sure you say, "I love you" often

'Cause you never know when the last I love you

Is really your last I love you.