Three girls, between 12 and 13, arrested for beating disabled man to death on DC street
A 12-year-old girl and two 13-year-olds were arrested this week in Washington DC for a brutal 2023 attack on a disabled man in which they chased him through an alley and stomped him to death, reports said.
The three young girls were allegedly caught on camera carrying out what detectives described as the “horrific” Oct. 17 middle-of-the-night attack murder of Reggie Brown.
The graphic video showed a group of five girls chasing the disabled 64-year-old down an alley and ripping him off a chain link fence as he desperately tried to flee.
They stomped his head on the concrete before pulling his pants down to his ankles and using his own belt to beat him, investigators testified in court Friday, according to the Washington Post.
The deranged group allegedly laughed as Brown began bleeding from his head, with one of the girls shouting: “He’s leaking!”
Brown was found dead on the street just before 1 a.m. suffering from gruesome injuries consistent with assault, according to Metro Police. An autopsy later listed his manner of death as blunt force trauma.
According to police, Brown was disabled and had mental health issues. He also had a metal plate in his head and only two fingers on each hand.
“My uncle really didn’t deserve this,” a niece of Brown’s said in a statement to News4.
“He was known in this community for years so for this to happen where he lived for 64 [years] is insane. They have to be held accountable!”
Detective Harry Singleton testified that a man in his early 20s initiated the attack by grabbing Brown by the collar and throwing him against a brick wall.
The girls happened to be walking by at the time, one of whom asked the man,“ Can I fight him?” to which he responded “Yes.”
The 12-year-old girl was the one who pulled Brown off the fence and used his belt against him — all while filming the sickening beatdown on her cellphone, according to police.
Investigators emphasized that the girls did not know the man they murdered, but are still looking into whether the stranger who started the fight did.
One of the girls told cops that two of the assailants did not want to beat Brown, but were forced to by the stranger, who was allegedly threatening them with a gun in his waistband.
The alleged killers were on the loose until Thursday, when one of the 13-year-old girls was taken into custody by court order.
That night, at roughly 4 a.m., the 12-year-old girl was shot in her apartment, located roughly one half-mile from where Brown succumbed to his injuries.
She suffered a gunshot to her leg and was rushed to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police have not said whether the gunfire erupted inside the apartment or if it came from outside, but neighbors told News4 that they witnessed two young people escape from a broken window and down an alley.
The pre-teen and the third girl were arrested later that day.
None have prior arrests, but all three have long-standing truancy issues. One of the teenagers hadn’t attended a single day of class in 2024, the judge said.
All three face second-degree murder charges and are being tried as juveniles.
