Lebron Terrell Brown
A woman testified Wednesday about her eight-year-old son being shot on Windsor Street during a barrage of gunfire.
She recalled her son saying from the back seat of her white van, "Mama, I'm bleeding," during testimony in the courtroom of General Sessions Court Judge Christie Sell. She said he was having trouble breathing, but she told him to "keep breathing."
Judge Sell bound charges that included attempted first-degree murder to the Grand Jury against Lebron Terrell Brown, 30.
The shooting happened June 8, 2017. Brown had been charged once before, but it was dismissed. Detective Taylor Walker said it was decided to do so because evidence that had been sent to the TBI had not come back and it would have meant using a young witness who he said could identify Brown as the shooter.
He said the case was revived after a TBI report said gunshot residue was found on Brown's hands. Also, the report said a Beretta .40 caliber handgun tied to Brown was the gun that fired bullets and shell casings found in the van and in the street in front of 2118 Windsor.
The mother said that day she was with Michael Watt, her on and off boyfriend since 2013. She said they stopped at a store to get beer for Watt's brother and mother, who lived on Windsor Street near the shooting scene. She said she and her son went inside the mother's house, and Watt disappeared for some time before returning.
The witness said they then went to her house in Eastdale. However, the mother of Watt called and wanted a cell phone returned. She said the three of them got back in the van with Watt driving, her in the front passenger seat, and her son behind her.
She said after dropping off the phone they began driving down Windsor, but stopped because a child was retrieving a ball that rolled across the street. She said she saw a guy standing by the right side of the road who gave a hand signal indicating they should stop.
At that point she said the shots rang out, and Watt sped away from the scene. That is when her son told her he had been shot. She said she told Watt, "(son's name) has been hit. Get him to Parkridge." She said they pulled up front at the emergency room and Watt carried her son in his arms, telling hospital personnel, "My son's been shot."
She said Watt is not actually the child's father. She said the real father died of a massive heart attack when the boy was little.
She said, "The doctors and nurses came running out" and began working on her son. She was soon told the case was so serious that he needed to be transferred to Erlanger's Children's Hospital for immediate surgery.
The mother said she went in the back of a police car to Children's Hospital, while her son went in an ambulance. She said Watt had disappeared after pulling the car away from the emergency room entrance and she has not seen him since. She said the van was "destroyed."
She said her son was in intensive car for two weeks and for longer than that was in a hospital room before finally being dismissed. She said the bullet either entered his back and went out the front or the other way around. She said it entered the abdomen and caused injury to his diaphragm, lung and liver.
She said he was not able to stand up straight for some time. She said he has undergone therapy for the nightmares he has. She said, "He is still afraid that it is going to happen again."
Detective Walker said witnesses told of those involved in the shooting getting in a black Nissan Rogue. He said cameras that had been placed near the scene showed a black Nissan Rogue leaving the scene and turning on Arlington, toward Carousel where it was eventually found.
He said someone at the scene followed the vehicle to 1402 Carousel and called police, who surrounded the house. He said a Beretta .40 caliber gun was thrown out of the window of the house. Brown and four other men were inside.
The detective said it was found that Brown was living at the time at the address on Windsor where the shooting happened. A woman there pointed out a room occupied by Brown. In the room were mail addressed to Brown along with a box of .40 caliber PMC ammo that still had some rounds in it.
He said seven shell casings found in the street and two bullets in the van were all .40 caliber PMC.
The detective said the person who had rented the black Nissan Rogue said Brown was using it that day.