Three girls between the ages of 12 and 13 have been charged in connection with the beating death of a 64-year-old man in the nation’s capital late last year, and the youngest suspect was wounded in the leg in a mysterious shooting before she was taken into custody.
The arrests come nearly six months after Reggie Brown, a resident of Northwest D.C., was found beaten to death on Oct. 17, 2023.
During a court hearing last week, Detective Harry Singleton played the disturbing video, showing a man in a blue coat initially throwing Brown, a near elderly man with disabilities, to the pavement before the assailants pounded the victim.
According to the Washington Post, one witness said one of the girls asked the man, “Can I fight him?”
A group of five girls then chased Brown, into alley and as he tried to climb up a chain fence, pulled him down and stomped his head into the pavement. Yet, that wasn’t enough, they pulled his pants down around his ankles, removed his belt and beat him with it, the Post reported.
“He’s leaking,” one of the girls says joyously, as Brown reportedly lay in a pool of own blooding before they walked away.
The 12-year-old recorded the beating on her cellphone, the Post reports. One of the girls told police that two of them did not want to take part in flogging, but was forced to after the unidentified man threatened to shoot them with a gun he flashed on his waist.
Singleton said Brown also had mental health issues, a metal plate in his head and only two fingers on each hand, The Post reports.
One of the 13-year-old suspects was taken into custody on March 28, while a second 13-year-old and 12-year-old were apprehended the next day. None of the suspects have a criminal record but have histories of chronic absenteeism from school.
The suspects have not been identified by authorities because they are underage, however, both 13-year-olds were formally charged with second-degree murder during their initial hearing on March 29, although they have not been charged as adults.
The 12-year-old girl faces charges after she was shot in the foot at her apartment home on Peabody Street last Friday before her arrest.
Law enforcement sources did not immediately explain the circumstances of the shooting, nor did they reveal who shot the adolescent girl or whether she was the intended target.
It’s also unclear whether the gunfire originated inside the girl’s residence or from outside.
Officials noted that a window pane on the first floor of the apartment was shattered, while witnesses told local news stations that two people jumped out of the broken window and fled down an alleyway.
At least one of the suspects may have been wearing a mask and was dressed in black, neighbors said, according to reports.
Police later detained several juveniles as investigators canvassed the scene in the hours before daylight, however no suspects or arrests have been announced, while authorities offered a $25,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.
The shooting took place about a half-mile from where Brown was killed, and now 24 weeks after his killing, one of the primary suspects was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and later taken into custody.
In another twist, all three girls lived in the same suburb of Northwest D.C. as the victim, but there was no indication they ever crossed paths before the night that Brown was slain, police said.
Last year, detectives came upon Brown’s lifeless body in the middle of the night on nearby Georgia Avenue, and he was pronounced dead at the scene from blunt force trauma.
An autopsy later determined Brown died as a result of a homicide, but no suspects emerged immediately despite video surveillance of the attack, which showed three girls kicking and stomping the defenseless man before walking away nonchalantly.
Following last week’s hearing, the two 13-year-old girls were remanded to a secure youth facility, while the 12-year-old girl was set to appear before the judge the day after she was wounded in a shooting that authorities have yet to explain.
The Post reports that one of the 13-year-olds sucked her thumb during a court appearance and at one point fell asleep before the judge woke her.
Investigators said Brown’s attackers didn’t know him, leaving relatives searching for answers after his chance encounter on a street corner resulted in violence that claimed his life.
“My uncle really didn’t deserve this,” Brown’s niece told News4 in Washington. “He was known in this community for years, so for this to happen where he lived for 64 [years] is insane. They have to be held accountable.”
Family members said Brown was a compassionate man who cared deeply about others and was always willing to help, even going so far as to give someone the shirt off his back.
“He was just a quiet, nice polite person. He didn’t bother anybody. That’s the type of person he was,” a close family friend told FOX 5 in Washington.
The arrests in D.C. coincided with a similar case in Philadelphia where adult charges were dismissed against two teen suspects who were accused of beating an elderly Black man to death with traffic cones in 2022.
