Ex-Riviera official shot; wife gets attempted murder charge
RIVIERA BEACH — Tony Brown, the former Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency executive director, was shot and critically wounded Tuesday during a dispute with his wife in their northern Florida home, authorities said.
The Nassau County Sheriff’s Office reported that Brown, 58, was shot in the back of the head by his wife, 57-year-old Lawanda Brown after a dispute over a Google search.
Lawanda Brown was arrested on a charge of attempted murder. She remained in custody Wednesday after a judge set her bond amount at $500,002.
Tony Brown was flown Tuesday to UF Health Hospital in Jacksonville with critical injuries, the sheriff ’s office said.
Authorities did not provide an update on his condition Wednesday.
However, a person close to the family said that Brown was lucid and had spoken to well-wishers. He is scheduled to have brain surgery today to remove bullet fragments, the person said.
Authorities said the argument occurred at the couple’s residence
in Fernandina Beach, about 30 miles north of Jacksonville. Before the shooting, the Browns were both working in the loft of their home where they share an office for their consulting business, according to a post on the Nassau County Sheriff ’s Office Facebook page.
Lawanda Brown reportedly told sheriff ’s investigators her husband asked her to search Google for a template to use on a project they were working on.
She said she could hear from the tone in her husband’s voice that he was not happy with how she was searching.
She described what happened next as a “blur,” saying that Tony Brown started walking out of the loft before being shot, the sheriff ’s office said.
Investigators f ound a .38-caliber revolver in a bedroom.
A website lists Tony Brown as the president and CEO of the T. Brown Consulting Group.
He was hired as Riviera Beach’s CRA director in 2010. He was fired in 2016, with CRA board chairman and city councilman Terence Davis voicing frustration about Brown’s approach to the job.
During his time in Riviera Beach, he oversaw the multimillion-dollar development of the city’s waterfront Marina Village.
Before joining the city, Brown served as president of the Uptown Consortium in Cincinnati, a private corporation that financed neighborhood redevelopment.
He previously worked as the director of community development lending for Barnett Bank in Palm Beach County.
From 2001- 0 4, Brown was director of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund for the U.S. Department of Treasury.