Officer Who Knows Homicide Defendant ID's Him in Testimony

Thank you for reading D.C. Witness.
Consider making a donation to help us continue our mission.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer who identified Alonzo Brown in a homicide investigation was familiar with Brown and his alleged victim for many years, according to testimony given before DC Superior Court Judge Jason Park on May 12.

Brown, 28, and Naquel Henderson, 27, are charged with first-degree murder while armed, conspiracy to commit a crime of violence, five counts of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence, and four counts of assault with intent to kill while armed. The charges stem from their alleged involvement in the shooting that killed 21-year-old Michael Taylor and injured two additional victims on Jan. 12, 2019, on the 1700 block of Benning Road, NE.

Brown and Henderson are two of five men charged with Taylor’s death. Stephon Evans, 24, and Tavist Alston, 31, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while armed in 2022, while Carlos Turner, 27, is scheduled for sentencing May 16.

According to Steven Kiersh, Brown’s attorney, Turner accepted a deal that required him to plead guilty to second-degree murder. However, D.C. Witness has beeen unable to confirm the terms of Turner’s plea agreement, as they are under seal.

At trial, the prosecution called as a witness an MPD officer who has worked in the area where the shootings occurred since 2004.

“We took pride in knowing the kids and all the residents,” the officer said about himself and the partner he patrolled with. “I played football in high school and took an interest in some of the kids that way.”

The officer said he also helped set up a boxing program at the Rosedale Recreation Center, two blocks from the apartment complex where Taylor was murdered.

The officer said he knew many of the local residents’ nicknames. The prosecutor asked him if they had given him a nickname, and the officer said yes, his nickname was “Cheesecake.”

When the prosecutor began asking the officer whether there was conflict between Taylor’s apartment complex and another close by, Kiersh objected on the grounds of relevancy.

Judge Park sustained the objection but commented that the officer’s long personal involvement with the neighborhood was very relevant to his ability to identify the defendants.

“He was given this colorful nickname–or the opposite, indicating an absence of color,” Judge Park said, citing the nickname as an indication of the officer’s closeness to the community.

The officer said he knew Taylor since the age of 13 or 14, when Taylor introduced himself to the officer using his father’s name instead of his own. The officer only learned it was the name of Taylor’s father at a memorial service for Taylor.

The officer also knew Shamar Marbury, the 19-year-old whose murder the prosecution is arguing was the motive for Taylor’s killing.

The officer testified to seeing Brown and Henderson at Marbury’s funeral, serving as pall bearers. Evans was another pallbearer, while Alston and Turner were also present, the officer said.

Taylor was murdered the day following Marbury’s funeral. Soon after, a homicide detective asked the officer to identify a man in a still photo taken from surveillance footage.

The officer identified the man as Brown, or “Zo,” as he knew him. The officer identified Evans from another still.

The officer’s testimony is scheduled to continue on May 13.

The prosecution called an MPD sergeant who collected surveillance video footage of the area around the shooting between 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p. m. on the day of the incident. The shooting occurred a few minutes after 2:00.

The footage played in court showed four men in dark clothing, with hats or hoods partially obscuring their faces, who gathered to approach the building where the shooting occurred. They rushed inside together, then a few seconds later ran away.

The prosecution also displayed a still photo that gave a closeup view of one man. The sergeant testified that the photo was taken from the surveillance footage he collected.

This was the still that the other officer identified as a photo of Brown.

On cross examination, Kiersh, questioning the identification, confirmed with the sergeant that it wasn’t clear from the still photo that the man’s clothes were dark-colored, so he might have been dressed differently than the four men at the shooting.

On redirect examination, the prosecutor confirmed with the sergeant that, as far as the sergeant knew, the man in the still photo could have changed his clothing between the time of the photo and the time of the shooting, since the photo didn’t have a time stamp on it.

The prosecution also called as a witness an MPD officer who visited the two surviving victims at the hospital after the shooting. While there, he determined the locations of their injuries and inspected their clothing for bullet holes.

The witness said one surviving victim was taken to Howard University Hospital. That victim suffered from two bullet wounds to the center of his back and one to his right elbow, according to the witness.

The witness said the other surviving victim was taken to MedStar Washington Hospital Center.

“He had a gunshot wound to the head, a gunshot wound to the left eye, to the left arm, and, I believe, to the left ankle,” the witness said.

Parties are set to reconvene on May 13.

Officer Who Knows Homicide Defendant ID’s Him in Testimony