In the early morning hours of November 3, 2021, the quiet of a Federal Way, Washington neighborhood was broken by the sound of gunfire. Several residents reported hearing the shots around 3:30 a.m., prompting a police response to the area. Officers arrived and searched the vicinity but initially found no evidence of a shooting. Later that morning, around 7:30 a.m., a resident walking through a local park made a grim discovery and immediately contacted the authorities.
Responding to the
second call, police found the body of 13-year-old Avril AJ Brown Jr., a Black male who was an eighth-grade student at Einstein Middle School in nearby Shoreline. The King County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that the young teen had died from gunshot wounds. His death, just days before he would have celebrated his 14th birthday, was officially ruled a homicide, launching an intensive investigation by detectives from the Federal Way Police Department's Criminal Investigations Section.
The news of AJ's death sent shockwaves through his school and the wider community. Those who knew him remembered a young man with a bright future, and a GoFundMe page was established to help his mother with funeral expenses. In the days following the discovery of his body, police appealed to the public for any information that might lead to a breakthrough in the case. However, despite the ongoing investigation, no arrests have been made in connection with the murder of Avril AJ Brown Jr., and no suspects have been publicly identified. The case remains an active and open homicide investigation.
