As Aaron Landry and four other teens headed toward an intersection in Darrow where the Brown brothers had just been seen walking, Landry had a “bad gut feeling” about what was going to happen.
Landry, 18, and his friends had just been warned by one of their aunts not to go by those boys, but they went anyway, aiming for a confrontation that eventually occurred at Brown Extension Street and La. 22, according to a sheriff’s warrant.
“And I remember praying to myself, ‘I hope this don’t go wrong,'” Landry told Ascension Parish sheriff’s investigators earlier this spring.
Something did go wrong on March 12 — and badly, sheriff’s investigators learned.
In an argument during which guns reportedly were flashed by both sides, the Brown brothers, Treylon and Kenyon, were shot in front of a church parking lot in Darrow, a rural corner of southeastern Ascension. The youngest, Treylon Brown, a 15-year-old St. Amant High student, was killed.
A detailed sheriff’s warrant and indictments handed down earlier this month allege that the brothers had been gunned down by another student then at St. Amant High, Deondre’ Steward, 16, a sophomore from Gonzales.
Sheriff’s investigators claim Steward, Landry and three other juveniles now charged as adults in the shootings were part of a gang, known as the “Fives,” who had a pre-existing beef with the Brown brothers, who were sometimes referred to as the “Walter Hill” boys.
Citing an interview with one of the suspects, unnamed sources and social media traffic, investigators concluded that it was “clear that the FIVE’s were angered” by a past incident that allegedly triggered the dispute and “were actively searching for Treylon and Kenyon Brown with violent intentions.”
Social media exchanges among some of the Fives and their affiliates used emojis of a body with a blood drop in reference to the “Walter Hill” boys for what they had allegedly done and warnings for Fives members to make sure they were walking around with their guns and to be “on your game.”
On March 17, after his arrest, Steward denied to sheriff’s investigators that he shot the Browns, saying he ran from the scene after shots had been fired from somewhere else, the warrant says. Steward claims he didn’t even have a gun.
Deputies say surveillance video shows Steward fleeing the scene with the other youths wearing a ski mask. Contradicting Steward’s claims, other alleged members of the Fives told investigators he was the only one in their group with a gun that day.
He has since been charged as an adult and pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder charges, court papers say.
The three other juveniles also charged as adults were indicted last month as principals in the murder and attempted murder of the Brown brothers. They are Donell Harris, 17; Justin Scott, 16; and Peyton Jackson, 15, all of Darrow. All three pleaded not guilty Tuesday in court in Gonzales.
Landry, of the Gonzales area, has been arrested as principal in the shootings, but the grand jury has not formally charged him, court papers said.
Prosecutors in Ascension didn’t return an email for comment Wednesday. Legal representation for the youths through the Public Defender’s Office isn’t settled yet, attorneys said.
The underlying dispute between the Browns and the Fives is the subject of some debate.
Sheriff’s investigators say they were told by the defendants that it revolved around allegations that the Brown brothers had pursued an affiliate member of the “Fives” in a van 12 days before the shooting, waving guns at him.
But Karla Brown, mother of the Brown boys, disputed that claim. The Fives affiliate member, she said, had misunderstood her sons simply saying hello to him from the van.
“That’s total BS, total BS,” she said in an interview Wednesday.
Citing prior incidents against her sons, Karla Brown alleged the Fives have had it out for them since her family moved into Darrow more than a year ago because they were new to the close-knit area.
“Again, this was their plan initially. They put it in their (rap) songs and everything. They were going to do this anyway,” she said.
A parent of two of the Fives members arrested in the shootings, however, told sheriff’s deputies the feuding and threats of violence came from both sides in the dispute, the arrest warrant says.
Donovan Jackson, a sheriff’s spokesman, said Wednesday deputies continue to look into the claim about the Brown brothers allegedly threatening a Fives affiliate but have found no evidence to support charges.
Aaron Landry, allegedly one of the Fives, told sheriff’s investigators that he had figured the impending confrontation with the Browns on March 12 might lead to a fistfight or an exchanging of words.
But allegations from statements detailed in the arrest warrant suggest that the presence of guns by both sides escalated tensions.
Of the three Fives members who identified Steward as having a gun during the confrontation with the Browns, they also alleged Kenyon Brown, who was 16 at the time, had a gun and that he pointed it at the group or at Steward directly, according to the sheriff’s warrant.
One of the group alleged to investigators that Kenyon Brown threatened to kill Steward if he took out his gun again.
At the same time, two Fives members claimed they also saw Steward raise a gun toward one or both of the Brown brothers and one of the two also alleged he saw him shoot at Kenyon Brown, the brother who survived, according to the arrest warrant.
Steward also claimed Kenyon Brown pointed a gun at his group after words had been exchanged, the warrant says.
Once deputies arrived at the scene of the shooting on March 12, a handgun with an extended magazine was found in Treylon Brown’s hand, deputies said.
Another handgun with an extended magazine was found on the ground next to Kenyon Brown’s body, deputies said.
The juveniles charged in the slaying are expected to appear in court June 12.
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