Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Revenge fueled shootings, police say
Four injured and two dead, including boy, 8
DANIA BEACH — Four nights of violence and fear in Dania Beach — prompted by revenge for a brother’s murder that included a hit list and left a little boy dead — ended 470 miles away in Tallahassee with the capture of a suspect, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
U.S. Marshals took convicted felon Arvis Brown, 19, of Fort Lauderdale, into custody.
He was called the primary suspect, wanted in connection with three of the week’s four shootings that killed two people and injured four others, Broward Sheriff Sgt. Scott Champagne said during a news conference at Dania Beach City Hall.
Brown was released from a state prison in November after serving 2 1/2 years for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, records show. He was arrested on a felony warrant for possession of a firearm by a career offender, and for questioning in the shootings that happened Dec. 25, 27 and 28.
Citing the open investigations, Champagne would not describe what led detectives and the marshals to Brown.
On Sunday, Christopher Jordan, 25, was shot several times while walking home shortly after 8 p.m. near Northwest Sixth Avenue and Northwest Second Street. He died at Broward Health Medical Center.
“Through the course of that investigation, we determined that Christopher Jordan was murdered as a result of a retaliatory hit, if you will, in connection to a previous homicide of a man by the name of Dijon Brown,” Champagne said.
Dijon Brown, 20, was shot and killed in 2011 during a street party in Dania Beach. Investigators could not
confirm the relationship between Dijon Brown and Arvis Brown, but relatives said the two are brothers.
“Arvis Brown sought vengeance on Christopher Jordan,” Champagne said, because he believed Jordan was involved in Dijon Brown’s death.
In the Dijon Brown investigation, another suspect was taken into custody, but the case collapsed when eyewitnesses changed their testimony, Champagne said.
“That homicide of Christopher Jordan on Christmas night set off a chain of events,” Champagne said.
Word got out that Arvis Brown had a hit list, and one of Jordan’s cousins was the next name on it, according to Champagne.
Monday night, the cousin sought to buy a gun for protection, but the seller, Gregory Sims, 22, of Hollywood, intended to rob him, Champagne said. The transaction happened near 100 NW Eighth Ave.
“In the course of a struggle the victim was pistol whipped, the gun discharged and the victim sustained a bullet fragment to the left lower eye,” Champagne said.
Sims was arrested Thursday on suspicion of attempted armed robbery, aggravated battery with a firearm and violating probation, and is being held without bond in a Broward County jail.
He was not implicated in any of the other shootings, Coleman-Wright said.
Tuesday night, a man was grazed by a bullet near 389 Phippen-Waiters Road and was taken to a hospital. Arvis Brown is suspected of being involved in that incident, Coleman-Wright said. The injured man, who was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, was not identified.
Just before 8 p.m. Wednesday, Rasheed Cunningham Jr., 8, and his family were walking home from a 4-year-old relative’s birthday party when gunfire began near 201 NW Ninth Ave.
Relatives say there was more than one man shooting in the street near Collins Elementary School, a detail investigators would not confirm.
Caught in the crossfire, the child was struck once in the head and twice in his chest, said his grandfather Rodney Daughtry.
Detectives don’t think the assailant set out to shoot Rasheed.
A woman was also hospitalized with gunshot wounds. Detectives have withheld her name.
In addition to Arvis Brown, U.S. Marshals took two other men into custody and recovered a weapon Friday, Sheriff Scott Israel said. It was not yet known if the other two men and the gun are connected to the shootings, he said.
Detectives ask anyone with information to call 954-764-4357 or Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477. Crime Stoppers accepts anonymous tips and will pay up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest.