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Police: Siblings try to avenge brother's death
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The scene Monday afternoon at a home in the 100 block of West Princeton Avenue is the one that keeps homicide detectives up nights: Relatives or friends of a murder victim taking matters into their own hands.
Jawaun Brown, 22, and his sister Jalesa Brown, 19, of Austintown, are both in the Mahoning County jail on charges of felonious assault.
Police say they drove to the home just after 5 p.m. Monday and Jawuan Brown pistol-whipped a man he believed was involved in the Sunday evening shooting of his brother, Jarrel Brown, 18, of East LaClede Avenue.
Jarrel Brown was found shot to death at West Indianola Avenue and Market Street about 10:15 p.m. Sunday. His death is the city’s 13th homicide of the year.
Lt. Doug Bobovnyik of the detective bureau, who is part of the team of detectives investigating Jarrel Brown’s death, said Tuesday that it is always crucial for detectives to make an arrest as soon as possible in any homicide in order to cut down on the cycle of retaliatory violence that has plagued the city in several of the years when the homicide rate was extremely high.
“That’s the whole key right there is to move fast on the initial investigation,” Bobovnyik said.
Bobovnyik said Jawaun Brown and his sister drove to the house just after 5 p.m. and argued with a man there.
Bobovnyik said Jawuan Brown pistol-whipped the man he was arguing with, and the man’s father, who heard the commotion, grabbed a 12-gauge shotgun that he had.
The weapon was loaded with birdshot to aid his son.
Jawaun Brown and his sister then left, but as they were driving away Jawaun Brown fired from the gun he had at the home, Bobovnyik said.
The father returned fire with the shotgun, and both Jawuan and Jalesa Brown were hit with shotgun pellets.
They were both treated at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital before being released to police and housed in the jail.
They are expected to be arraigned in municipal court today.
In Jarrel Brown’s death, detectives are looking at surveillance video from businesses at the intersection to see if they can gain any clues.
Bobovnyik said Monday it appeared that Jarrel Brown was shot somewhere in the area and then walked to the area where his body was found.
Since 2010, the city has averaged about 25 homicides a year, down from earlier years when it was typically more than 30.
Detectives and other police officials have said that one of the reasons is that detectives have been able to solve cases quickly within the last few years, which cuts down on the amount of violence from people looking for justice themselves.
Bobovnyik said Tuesday the investigation into Jarrel Brown’s death is progressing.