Community mourns the loss of Tyrenzo Brown

Local leaders call for action to stem gun violence

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Tyrenzo Brown loved people. He loved his family and he loved his kids, Brown’s uncle, James Hodge, told the crowd. He had recently found out he was going to have another son, Hodge said.

But just days after receiving that news, Brown was gunned down at the Channel Park Homes, in what was described as a “sudden attack.”

Residents, clergy, community leaders and politicians gathered at 500 Centre St. on Oct. 2 for a rally in response to the killing of the 28-year-old Long Beach resident — just hours after the suspected gunman, 22-year-old Antonio Webb, also of Long Beach, was arraigned in City Court.

Local leaders, joined by city officials, called for a reaction from a community that they say has been complacent too long when it comes to gun violence. They asked residents to stand up and fight to protect their families, and not let Brown’s death be in vain.

“I’ve been to many things like this, but I never thought that I would be here with a button and a T-shirt for my nephew,” said Hodge, the chairman of the Martin Luther King Center, referring to the commemorative buttons and T-shirts honoring Brown that many residents wore. “We will create change in a major way out of this.”

Brown was shot and killed early on the morning of Sept. 27. He was with a group of people that night after he visited his daughter at Channel Park Homes, when, at 12:42 a.m., someone opened fire and shot him multiple times.

Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney and Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen both joined the crowd at the rally, and both spoke about how, though the first steps toward justice in Brown’s murder have been taken, there is still a long road ahead. And both said that to prevent such incidents in the future, residents need to be willing to share information with law enforcement, and fight the stigma against “snitching” that has allowed other violent incidents in the area to go unsolved.

“I can’t do my job unless you do it with me,” Rice told the crowd. “You need to bring information to my attention. You need to tell me. It’s that simple.”

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