In the summer of 2015, a fatal encounter on a Brooklyn street corner cut short the life of 32-year-old Christopher Tennison. On the evening of August 8th, an argument broke out between two men at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Sackman Street, a location bordering the neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville. The dispute tragically escalated, leaving Tennison with a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
Emergency medical responders arrived to find him unconscious and unresponsive on the sidewalk, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The investigation into the death of the Bed-Stuy resident quickly led police to a suspect. Keith Brannon, a 48-year-old man residing at a nearby men's shelter, was arrested and charged with the murder. The motive for the violent act appeared to be robbery, with reports indicating that Brannon had taken Tennison's wallet before shooting him. The proximity of both Tennison's apartment and Brannon's shelter to the scene of the crime placed the two men in the same vicinity on that fateful night.
The legal proceedings that followed brought a measure of justice for Christopher Tennison. In December 2016, a jury found Keith Brannon guilty of first-degree murder. The evidence presented at trial included threatening text messages that were traced back to Brannon. Subsequently, in February 2017, Brannon was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the senseless killing. The tragic loss was deeply felt by Tennison's loved ones, with his wife describing him as an 'amazing person' and expressing her devastation over his 'awful' murder.
