Father of 9 killed in West Palm gunfire
Samuel Brown ‘died protecting his son,’ family member says.
WEST PALM BEACH — Samuel Brown dotingly positioned his mother and son for a picture Monday evening on Ninth Street.
His boy had an interview for a job at a car dealership. The former mechanic could not be more proud.
“He was like, ‘Look at my son, this is my son,’ ” recalled 21-yearold Deantre Brown.
The younger Brown planned to spend time with his father, younger brother and cousin after he finished at the car dealership, as he did most evenings. But he fell asleep afterward at his home down the street from his father’s.
He awoke at about 11 p.m. to the sound of gunfire.
“It’s your dad. It’s your dad,” Deantre Brown remembers people screaming as he ran barefoot down Ninth Street toward his family.
His dad, the man with whom he only recently rekindled a relationship, was dead. Brown’s death marks the fifth reported homicide this year in West Palm Beach, according to a Palm Beach Post database.
“He died protecting his son,” said Tyece Mack, who has a daughter with the older Brown.
Brown’s 18-year-old son, Deantre’s younger brother, was next to him when the gunfire started. A bullet grazed Brown’s teenage nephew’s neck, but neither the nephew nor Brown’s son was seriously injured.
Brown literally took bullets for them, Mack said.
West Palm Beach police have not released any suspect information or a potential motive in the fatal shooting. It’s unclear
whether Brown, a father of nine, was the intended target.
Brown’s son said his father was shot about a decade ago at the same place he was killed Monday. That shooting left the father unable to use his right hand and subsequently kept him out of work. He loved working with cars, though, so he did what he could on Deantre Brown’s, making repairs and offering his son advice on how to keep it running until the 21-year-old could afford a new one.
His father was so excited to help, Deantre Brown said.
The son was at a loss Wednesday as to why anyone would want to kill his father. Right now, he and his siblings still are trying to process what happened.
That neighborhood north of downtown has been the site of dozens of fatal shootings in the past three years, records show. Despite peace walks and pleas from tips about the killings, police have made few arrests in those deaths.
Anyone with information about Brown’s killing, or any other crime in the area, is urged to contact Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-TIPS (8477). Callers to Crime Stoppers can be anonymous.