Posted on 11/15/2003 8:18:22 AM PST by Theodore R.
Lexington teen shot and killed in his car By Delano R. Massey HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
Family members said Brian K. Brown eluded more than a dozen bullets fired into his moving car before one struck him in the head early yesterday morning.
The 18-year-old Lexington man's car struck two parked vehicles along Fairdale Drive and then collided head-on with a third as his body slumped behind the wheel just two blocks from his Dalray Street home.
Brown's car rolled to a stop in the grass about 12:15 a.m. Fayette County Deputy Coroner Steve McCown pronounced him dead at 1:45 a.m.
Before the shooting, Brown had been at the mobile home of one of his cousins.
"This is unreal ... that something like that could happen to such a good person," said Brown's uncle, Robert Williams. "It's just crazy. The person who did this had no clue who he is."
Williams said yesterday the 2003 Bryan Station High School graduate was liked by everyone and was active in basketball, football and baseball.
Seated in a recliner and surrounded by consoling family members, Brown's mother, Peggy, rested her head in her lap yesterday, covering her head as she sobbed inside the dark living room of the home Brown shared with his grandmother Sharon Kidwell and Williams.
The room was filled with a mixture of memories, cigarette smoke and tears as more than 20 family members crowded inside and outside the small mobile home. Brown, who moved in with his grandmother last spring, was working part-time at Family Dollar on New Circle Road to repay his grandmother for the car he received as a graduation present.
"He's just going to be missed so much," Kidwell wept.
Brown went to Lexington Community College this fall with plans to transfer to the University of Kentucky.
"I just got a new PlayStation game, and I meant to call him over last night to play it," Williams sobbed. "But, I fell asleep ... if I had called him, he'd still be alive."
Just moments after Brown left his cousin's house, shots were fired, he was struck and his red, compact car rolled down the street near a row of cars in the area. His vehicle struck a 2004 graphite pearl Honda Accord owned by Jared Wise and his wife and then hit Wise's company vehicle.
"I saw flashes from the shots," said Jared Wise, who got in from work around 11:45 p.m. "Then I heard the cars hit."
Brown's car then crossed the street and nearly struck a vehicle driven by Ray Martin Jr., 20, before colliding head-on with another parked vehicle and then stopping in the grass, Martin said. Martin, who lives in Frank-fort, said he was on his way home from a friend's house.
After seeing Brown motionless and unresponsive, Martin ran to a neighbor's house and called for help.
"I could just tell something wasn't right," Martin said. "I'd have to say that's the strangest thing that's ever happened to me."
The shooting leaves family members wondering "why" and "who."
"All he ever wanted to do was to make his mom and dad proud ... he did, and he was going places," said cousin Glenda Prater.
Lexington Police Lt. James A. Curless said police do not have a suspect or a motive.
Brown pleaded guilty in September on charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Curless said he "can't say it was drug-related."
Neighbors who were awakened by gunshots said they caught a glimpse of a white vehicle leaving the scene shortly after the shooting.
"Our investigation will continue," Curless said. "But we would like to locate the driver of that vehicle."
Anyone with information about the shooting should call (859) 258-3600.
Brown is survived by his mother; his father, Keith Brown, and his sister Ashley.
A Brian Brown donation fund has been set up at the Bryan Station branch of National City Bank to help family members pay for funeral arrangements.
Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday at W.R. Milward Mortuary-Broadway, where services will be held 1 p.m. Monday. Burial will be in the Lexington Cemetery.
How many drive-by shootings are there in a year?
If you want your children to be safe - teach them SAFE habits.
---Home by 10 (for teens) depending on neighborhood
---Do not associate with dogs and you won't get fleas
---Home by midnight for teens (weekends)
---KNOW where they are! Remember the TV ad - "It's 10 o'clock - Do you know where your children are?"
---COMMON SENSE! If you are not around dangerous people, dangerous places or dangerous activities (ILLEGAL ones) the odds of getting harmed by them drops to almost ZERO.
It is the PARENTS RESPONSIBILITY to teach the children. Hopefully when they get to their mid-teens, they know enough to help keep themselves from harm
Amen...when bad things happen it's most often on weekends between the hours of 11PM and 2AM
Alcohol and other drugs are almost always involved...
Oh, if I had to guess, the "why" is because he gave police the name of "who", his drug supplier.
And you can bet that "who" has an airtight alibi for the night of the shooting.
"...of the home Brown shared with his grandmother..."
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