On a Monday morning in Canton, Mississippi, 37-year-old Kendrick Armond Brown stood outside the Madison County Courthouse, awaiting a court appearance for drug-related charges. It was August 3, 2015, and Brown was expected to reject a plea deal in a case where he was accused of selling cocaine and conspiracy to sell cocaine. The day took a tragic turn when a man approached him and fired a single, fatal shot to his chest with a semiautomatic handgun. Brown was pronounced dead at 9:05 a.m., approximately 30 minutes after the shooting was reported. His own lawyer was present and witnessed the event unfold.
The shooter, identified as 24-year-old William Wells, did not flee the scene. After shooting Brown, he immediately laid down his weapon and surrendered to the authorities who rushed out of the courthouse upon hearing the gunshot. Wells was taken into custody without a struggle.
Investigators began to explore a possible motive for the brazen act of violence. It was revealed that Wells' mother had been shot and injured just two days prior to the courthouse shooting. While Canton Police Chief Otha Brown acknowledged the earlier shooting, he could not immediately confirm if Kendrick Brown's death was an act of retaliation. Despite the circumstances of his death, friends remembered Kendrick Brown as a 'good man' who loved his son and did not bother anyone.
