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Defense gives revealing interview about school shooting

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) - The attorney representing a suspected teenage murderer talked to WAFF 48 News about the crime.

In a very revealing interview, he details his client's state before and after, plus a possible gang connection.

Bruce Gardner will be fighting prosecutors to keep his client in the juvenile court system.

He described the suspect as a boy who looks far younger than his actual age of 14, very small in stature, and such a person that would have a difficult time adjusting to life in prison as an adult, though he's not naive to the serious crime he said his client has admitted to committing.

Gardner described his client as remorseful and worried.

"He's gone on record.  He cooperated completely with the authorities after it happened."

Gardner said both the victim and suspect belonged to the same gang, the Crips, even though Todd Brown's aunt denies that claim, but it is being investigated by police.

"A lot of this was simmering for a couple of months," Gardner said.

The attorney said the alleged shooter's motivation was directly motivated toward Brown, that his client was threatened by other members, including Brown for trying to withdraw from the gang.

The attorney uses the term cyber bullying, but he wants to make it clear, Brown did nothing the day of the shooting to precipitate the assault.

Gardner confirms his young client was transferred from Liberty Middle School to Discovery Middle School and at the beginning of the school year he was placed into the Discovery's alternative program because he had spray painted a bathroom, part of his gang initiation.

The attorney explains he had problems adjusting to the regular school population.

"There's a larger story and part of which is the gang, part of which is what my client was going through emotionally and was being treated for psychiatric disorders," Gardner said.

Again, we talked to Brown's aunt after our interview with Gardner.

She is declining all statements at this time, except to say Brown was not involved in any gang to the family's knowledge.

"He feels bad about what he did, but he's dealing with it," Gardner said about his client.

As for the boy's family:  "They're devoutly religious people.  They are very, very sorry for the young man, for Mr. Brown's family."

He said they encouraged their son to be completely honest with police, who are continuing to step up safety measures, as they look into every rumor or threat of gang activity.

"We've followed up on many, many leads and we're still continuing to follow up on many leads," Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey announced at a daily press briefing in response to questions about alleged gang involvement.  "But I can tell you today, just like I told you on day one, our schools are safe."

Law enforcement said there will be heightened security as long as there's a need.

"It's going to depend on how the children react, the number of rumors that are floating around so to speak, and until we feel that everything is safe and the children feel comfortable where they are," Muncey said.

He wants to assure the public, "We're not going to let anything slip by," Muncey said.  "We've interviewed a number of people and we have talked to some people that have mentioned, that yes, they have gang affiliation, and then we press them, you know what they say?  'I'm just kidding, not really, I'm not a gang member.  I'm a child.  We were just playing.  So what we're doing is we're identifying the individuals.  We're contacting their parents and saying if it walks like a duck, if it quacks like a duck, we consider it a duck.  If you're going to walk like a gang member and talk like a gang member, we're going to consider you a gang member and we're involving their parents."

Gardner hopes to try this case in juvenile court, but the state wants the 14-year-old certified as an adult.

"We'll hold him accountable," Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said about the suspect.

"The juvenile system is not really set to deal with crimes this serious," Assistant District Attorney Tim Gann, who's been assigned the case, said.

A judge will make a ruling next Wednesday.

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