NEW ORLEANS – A police report by the New Orleans Police Department sheds light on the decision by authorities to charge a New Orleans man with second-degree murder in the shooting death of a three-year-old boy.
(Click here and here to see police reports.)
Tryone Brown, 22, was charged with second-degree murder after police were called to a home in the 4500 block of Copernicus Street in Algiers after a three-year-old in his care apparently shot himself with a gun in the living room of Brown’s home. According to police, early indicators suggest the shooting was accidental.
According to the police report, a witness told a detective that they saw Brown stash two handguns in the sofa cushion in the living room, where Brown would later find Brashaun Blue with a gunshot wound to the head.
"According to the preliminary information, he (Brown) did not hear a gunshot. He awakened at around 8 this morning, answered the door and that's when he found the child dead on the floor," said Deputy Supt. Marlon Defillo of the NOPD Teusday after the shooting.
Blue was taken to an area hospital where he later died.
Defillo said the child's mother was not home at the time. Police say Brown was her boyfriend and she and her son lived at the house
Evidence at the scene, Superindent Ronal Serpas said Tuesday, appears to show the child accidentally shot himself.
Police found .40 caliber Glock handgun in the living room, according to the police report, and a spent .40 caliber shell casing and removed one .40 caliber bullet from the ceiling of the living room.
In a statement to police, Brown admitted that he owns a .40 caliber gun, but told police that the gun wasn’t in the house at the time. He added that when does have the weapon, he does keep it in the sofa cushion.
NOPD detective Timothy Bender, according to the police report, then consulted the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office and the decision was made to charge Brown with second-degree murder in connection with death of Brashaun Blue.
