On a Sunday afternoon in January 2019, a tragic event unfolded in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, forever altering the lives of a family. Philip Scarlett, a 43-year-old Black male, was fatally shot while protecting his teenage daughter from two armed assailants. The incident occurred inside a building at the Kingsborough Houses, a public housing complex.
Scarlett was at his girlfriend's sixth-floor apartment awaiting a visit from his 14-year-old daughter, who was coming to get money for laundry. As she approached the apartment, two masked men confronted and grabbed her in the hallway.
Hearing his daughter's cries for help, Scarlett rushed to her aid. In a final act of paternal devotion, he managed to push his daughter into the apartment to safety, shielding her with his own body. The two assailants then turned their aggression on Scarlett, dragging him down a staircase and shooting him in the hip and thigh before fleeing the scene. He was rushed to Interfaith Medical Center, but his wounds proved fatal, and he was pronounced dead.
The investigation into the senseless killing led to the identification of two suspects: Waki Bullock and Rashawn Brown. Bullock fled to Georgia but was eventually apprehended in July 2021 and extradited back to Brooklyn to face charges. In December 2024, a jury found Bullock guilty of two counts of second-degree murder. He was subsequently sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
His alleged accomplice, Rashawn Brown, was also arrested and charged with second-degree murder, attempted burglary, and criminal possession of a weapon. In June 2025, Brown pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision. The motive for the attack is believed to have been robbery. The lengthy prison sentences for both men brought a measure of accountability for the brutal and cold-blooded murder of a father who died a hero.
