John Jefferson
Inset: Reggie Brown (Brown family). Background: The alley where Brown was allegedly beaten to death by five teen girls (WJLA).
A group of five girls in Washington, D.C., beat an elderly disabled man to death last year because they were “bored” and looking for something to do, one of the assailants testified in court on Tuesday. The girls, who range in age from 12 to 15 years old, are accused of killing 64-year-old Reggie Brown in a random attack in the nation’s capital almost exactly one year ago.
According to a news release from the Metropolitan Police Department, Fourth District officers at about 12:54 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, responded to the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue, Northwest, in connection with reports of a “man down.”
Upon arriving, first responders said they located an adult male — later identified as Brown — suffering from injuries “consistent with an assault.” Medical personnel pronounced Brown dead at the scene.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and determined Brown’s manner of death to be a homicide and the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head.
Investigators in late March arrested a 12-year-old female and two 13-year-old females in connection with the attack. All three juveniles, whose names are not being released due to their ages, were charged with second-degree murder.
Several months later, investigators said they discovered two more juveniles involved in the fatal attack on Brown.
“On July 18, 2024, pursuant to D.C. Superior Court custody orders, members of the Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested a 13-year-old juvenile female and a 15-year-old juvenile female, both of Northwest, D.C.,” police wrote in the release. “They were transported to the Homicide Branch where they were charged with Second Degree Murder.”
The 15-year-old girl last week pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and was subsequently sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention facility. As part of her plea deal, the teen was required to testify at the trial of two of her codefendants, according to a report from local CBS affiliate WUSA.
Per the report, the 15-year-old told jurors that the five girls had been at a skate park in Maryland before returning to her home. While looking for something else to do, the juvenile witness said she suggested they go out and “find someone to beat up.”
Asked why she would suggest such a thing, the teen reportedly responded, “Because we were bored.”
While walking on Georgia Avenue, the 15-year-old said the group came across Brown, who was already being attacked by an unknown adult male wearing a blue coat who then approached the girls, area NBC affiliate WRC reported.
“He pushed (Mr. Brown) to the ground,” the 15-year-old reportedly testified. “He then walked up to us, and I asked him why he was beating him up.”
“What did he say?” prosecutors asked the teen.
“I don’t remember what he said,” she reportedly responded. “I asked if we could help. He said yes.”
The 15-year-old testified that she did not know the identity of the man in the blue coat.
One of the defendants reportedly recorded the attack on her cellphone, which showed several of the girls stomping on Brown’s head and lashing him with his own belt. Following the beating, the girls reportedly appeared to celebrate.
If found guilty, the two teens currently on trial face a maximum possible sentence of secured detention until they reach age 21.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, D.C. Superior Court Judge Kendra Briggs said that in addition to the 15-year-old girl, one of the remaining two juvenile defendants had also pleaded guilty in connection with the fatal attack, though it was not immediately clear what charge she pleaded to, WRC reported.
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