Three girls charged in fatal beating of 64-year-old man in Northwest

July 16, 2024

The graphic, minute-long cellphone video clip showed a group of five girls chasing a 64-year-old man with disabilities into a Northwest alley. As he tried to climb up a chain fence, the girls pulled him down and stomped his head into the pavement. They pulled his pants down around his ankles, removed his belt and beat him with it.

Then, as Reggie Brown lay on the ground in a pool of blood, the girls became jubilant, laughing and chatting. “He’s leaking,” one of the girls cheered, referring to Brown’s bleeding from his head.

The cellphone video was played in D.C. Superior Court Friday and Saturday during the hearings for three Northwest girls who police say were part of that group. The three, who were arrested on Friday, were charged with first- and second-degree murder in Brown’s death.

One girl is 12 and two are 13. All three girls were charged as juveniles. The 12-year-old, who was shot in the foot Friday morning before she was arrested, hobbled into court on Saturday on crutches, though details about that shooting were not revealed. Attorneys for the three entered not-guilty pleas.

Brown’s body was discovered about 1 a.m. Oct. 17 near an alley in the 6200 block of Georgia Avenue NW. Authorities determined Brown, who was unarmed, died of blunt force trauma. During two days of hearings, D.C. homicide detective Harry Singleton testified that Brown was disabled, had mental health issues, and had a metal plate in his head and only two fingers on each hand.

The Washington Post generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes and was allowed to attend the hearing on the condition that the youths’ identities not be revealed.

Singleton said he spent months reviewing security camera footage, interviewing witnesses and watching cellphone video that at least one of the girls recorded of the incident, which was turned over to police.

In court, Singleton played security camera footage showing what he believes to be the events leading up to Brown’s death: Before the attack, an unidentified man who the detective said looked to be in his early 20s was seen escorting Brown off Georgia Avenue by Brown’s collar. The man then threw Brown against the wall, and he fell to the ground, the video shows.

As Brown got up and tried to stumble off, Singleton said, the group of five girls, who were walking nearby, saw the incident. One of the girls, based on interviews with at least one witness, allegedly walked over to the man and asked him, “Can I fight him?” The man responded “Yes.”

The girls then chased Brown into the nearby alley. Singleton said the 12-year-old, wearing a pink hair bonnet, pulled Brown off the fence as he attempted to escape. The other girls then began kicking him. The 12-year-old, Singleton said, was captured on video striking Brown with his belt and kicking him in the head. She was also seen recording the incident on her cellphone while using her phone’s flashlight.

One of the girls told authorities that two of the girls did not want to participate in the fight, but the unidentified man then threatened to shoot them with a gun he allegedly had in his waistband.

Singleton said it was unclear whether Brown and the other man knew each other. But he said the girls did not know Brown. The girls also allegedly did not know the unidentified man.

At the first hearing, District prosecutor Gabrielle LoGaglio tried to display graphic photographs of Brown lying on the ground after the beating. But Magistrate Judge Dorsey Jones stopped her and said he did not need to see additional, isolated photos of Brown’s body. On Saturday, when LoGaglio played the video for a second judge, two courtroom personnel turned away from the screen and bowed their heads.

None of the girls had prior arrests, but all three had long-standing truancy issues, having missed long stints of school, according to information released at the hearings. The father of one of the 13-year-old girls had to re-enroll his daughter in school because she had missed so many days. That teen had not been in school at all in 2024, Jones later said.

At both hearings, the girls sat next to their attorneys and watched the videos and listened to the detective’s testimony. One of the 13-year-olds, wearing a sweatshirt with the R&B trio TLC on the front, sucked her thumb at various points during the hearing and at one point began sleeping, until the judge told her attorney to wake her up. The other 13-year-old had bright pink yarn in her hair that matched the pink sweatsuit she was wearing. At both hearings, the girls’ parents sat in the back of the courtroom.

Both judges, Jones on Friday and Judge Rupa Ranga Puttagunta on Saturday, ruled there was enough evidence to support the second-degree murder and assault charges. They ordered the girls held in secure detention at the city’s Youth Services Center. The judges dismissed the first-degree murder charges for all three, citing a lack of evidence of premeditation.

All three girls will be in court Thursday for a follow-up hearing.

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