Daily Press: Shooting death is ruled self-defense
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Shooting death is ruled self-defense
By Troy Graham
Daily Press
Published: Wednesday, May 02, 2001

NEWPORT NEWS – Renea Denise Brown was drunk and high on cocaine when she
attempted to rob a man in a wheelchair in his apartment last January.

The man then shot her in self-defense, Newport News prosecutors ruled
Tuesday.

Brown, 27, was killed on Jan. 13 in the man’s second-floor apartment in
The Towers, an East End waterfront high rise. She was pronounced dead at
the scene.

The case remained open while detectives and prosecutors examined the
man’s claim that he shot Brown in self-defense. The shooter’s name has
not been released, but police described him as a 37-year-old with
limited use of his arms and hands.

The man told police he was dumping garbage into a trash chute in the
hallway of his building when Brown got off the elevator, according to
Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney Howard Gwynn. Brown asked for money
and the man said he didn’t have any, Gwynn said.

The man then wheeled back to his apartment and Brown followed him inside
and locked the door. She demanded money again, and the man again
refused, Gwynn said. The man then tried to call the building’s security
and Brown took the phone from him, Gwynn said.

At one point, Brown wielded and threatened the man with a metal foldout
chair, Gwynn said.
The man then wheeled into his bedroom where he had another phone,
intending to call security. He also had a gun there, which he legally
owned.

When Brown came into the bedroom, the man pointed the gun at her and
told her to get out.
As she came toward him, the man fired twice, killing Brown.

Brown did not have a weapon when she was killed. The law concerning
justifiable homicide says the actions of the shooter must appear
reasonable to him under the given circumstances. Prosecutors agreed that
the man thought he had no choice but to shoot.

“He was pretty much backed into a corner,” Gwynn said. “If she’s able to
get to him, he’s had it.”

An autopsy performed on Brown found a high blood alcohol content and
cocaine in her system.

Brown lived nearby on Aqua Vista Drive, but detectives did not find any
connection between her and the man who shot her.

The shooting was the fourth death in a six-month period at The Towers.
Just two days before Brown’s death, police arrested 19-year-old Jessie
Wright for stabbing two men to death in their Tower apartments in
November 2000.

Police quickly compiled a report on the Brown shooting and turned it
over to prosecutors. But Gwynn said he wanted to wait until an autopsy
was completed before making a ruling.

“I didn’t think a complete and thorough examination of the facts could
be completed until the autopsy came back,” he said. “I wanted to make
sure the bullets traveled in a path that were consistent with what he
said.”

The autopsy, returned this week, showed that the bullets followed a
direction and path that confirmed the man’s story, Gwynn said.

Troy Graham can be reached at 247-4741 or by e-mail at
[email protected]***

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