August 25, 2014
Seattle Man: I Killed Gay Men, Others to Get Revenge on US
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
The Seattle man who confessed in June to killing two gay men he met via a gay hookup app, says he killed them and two others to get revenge on the United States over military actions in the Middle East, the Seattle Times reports.
According to court documents released last week, Ali Muhammad Brown, 29, was charged Wednesday for killing Leroy Henderson, 30, in April in Skyway, Wash. The documents filed in King County says Brown confessed to the shooting killings of Henderson as well as killing a same-sex couple in Seattle and a college student from New Jersey.
He told authorities he committed the crimes for retribution for lives lost during the U.S. military action in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
"My mission is my mission between me and my lord. That's it," Brown said during a jailhouse interview in New Jersey, according to the court filings. "My mission is vengeance, for the lives, millions of lives are lost every day. All these lives are taken every single day by America, by this government," Brown continued. "So a life for a life."
The newspaper writes Brown's killing spree started on April 27 when he shot down Henderson near his home. On June 1 he used a gay dating app to lure Dwone Anderson-Young and Ahmed Said to a Seattle nightclub before shooting both at close range, according to documents. Brown said in the court filings that he "essentially executed" both men.
After police circulated his photo in the media, Brown fled to New Jersey where he killed Brendan Tevlin, 19, in West Orange during in what was thought to be a robbery, according to prosecutors.
Brown was arrested in New Jersey at a makeshift campsite on July 18. Brown called Tevlin's shooting as a "just kill," telling investigators he only went after adult men and tried not to target anyone in the presence of women, children or the elderly.
Police say Brown may have stolen a car and a gun from the mother of his children and used the weapon in all four shootings, according to the court documents.
Brown is currently in custody in New Jersey and pleaded not guilty to Tevlin's killing. According to law enforcement, Brown could face the death penalty for the killings in Skyway and Seattle.
