Do you know who murdered Amos Brown Jr? On a summer afternoon in Norwalk, Connecticut, the life of 18-year-old African-American male Amos Brown Jr. was tragically cut short. On August 13, 2010, gunshots echoed near the corner of Lexington and Olean Streets. A silver sedan was seen in close pursuit of a black Honda driven by Brown. After multiple shots were fired, Brown's vehicle rolled down a hill and crashed into a small grocery market. First responders found him in the driver's seat with a gunshot wound to the head.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries two days later after being taken off life support.
The shooting was not a random act of violence but was believed to be rooted in a past altercation. A year prior, Brown had been acquitted in the 2008 stabbing death of 17-year-old Tykwan Hunt, arguing that he had acted in self-defense after Hunt pointed a gun at him. Hunt was identified by police as a member of the Money Green Mobb, a local gang. Brown's father maintained that the gang had been trying to recruit his son. After the acquittal, Brown and his father moved to Georgia, but they had returned to the Norwalk area about a year before the fatal shooting. Authorities at the time believed Brown's murder was in retaliation for Hunt's death.
Witnesses to the shooting described a tall, thin Black man in a red shirt getting out of a silver sedan and firing multiple rounds into Brown's vehicle. A cousin of Brown's, who was in a nearby car, reportedly returned fire. The shooter was seen fleeing the scene on foot, changing from a red shirt to a white one as he made his escape. The getaway vehicle, a silver 2010 Chevrolet Malibu with New Hampshire license plates, was later reported as stolen from a rental car agency. The suspects were described as three Black males in their teens or early 20s.
Despite a lengthy investigation and a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, the murder of Amos Brown Jr. remains unsolved. No arrests have been made directly in his case, and the individuals responsible for his death have not been brought to justice. The years following his death saw related acts of violence, including the shooting of his former girlfriend and the murder of a close friend who was with him the day he was shot. While arrests were made in some of these related cases, the community is still waiting for answers and closure in the killing of Amos Brown Jr. His father has become a vocal advocate against gang and gun violence, continually seeking justice for his son.
