The last remaining defendant in the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting seems likely to go to trial after rejecting multiple plea offers.
Tristan Brian Jackson, 19, appeared before Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey M. Geller on Monday morning, where requests by public defenders to release him on home detention were also denied. Public defenders Amanda Savage and Lauren Dollar made the case that Jackson is not safe in the correctional system after they say he was stabbed by another incarcerated person in June.
Four defendants besides Jackson have so far been charged with various offenses related to the Brooklyn Day mass shooting which took place at a public housing project in South Baltimore during the morning hours of July 2nd, 2023. The others, including two minors, have all taken plea deals.
“There’s been no reasonable counter offer to the state’s original plea,” said Assistant Michael Dunty, division chief of homicide for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, at Jackson’s hearing on Monday.
Kylis Fagbemi, 20, and Aaliyah Gonzalez, 18, were both killed that night while 28 others, many of them teenage girls, were injured. Over a year later, no one has been charged with the murder of Fagbemi or Gonzalez.
Jackson is charged with seven counts each of attempted first degree murder and conspiracy to commit; he also has charges of attempting to incite a riot and related firearms offenses.
Sitting before the judge Monday, Jackson’s right-eye visibly appeared swollen shut. According to assistant public defender Amanda Savage, Jackson was lying in his bunk when he was stabbed multiple times by another inmate on June 6th. He was taken for treatment and emergency surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
“It is unknown if Mr. Jackson will regain use of or ever see out of his right eye,” said Savage, who went on to say that Jackson has not always received his necessary medical treatments, including his medications. Savage said the defense believes Jackson is being “targeted” and that he remains in “danger” while in custody.
Jackson’s injury occurred a day before he was set to appear before the judge in a hearing on June 7th; he was not transported to court for that hearing and Savage said attorneys and the judge were unaware Jackson had been stabbed and hospitalized.
Savage noted that Jackson is presumed innocent until trial and that the state has an obligation to keep him safe. “He’s not being kept safe,” she said.
Dunty argued against releasing Jackson on home detention, pointing to the seriousness of his charges and the fact that at the time of the shooting, Jackson was already on home monitoring for an unrelated juvenile gun crime.
“Home detention won’t keep him at home,” said Dunty.
In recorded jail calls, Dunty claimed Jackson can be heard conspiring to start fights with other incarcerated people in his tier, including in one call where the prosecutor said Jackson and another individual discussed how they “went to war” with the other inmates.
Dunty described the stabbing as a “serious assault” that he did not want to “belittle.” He suggested interrogating the corrections department about Jackson’s medical treatment rather than releasing Jackson.
Geller denied Jackson’s release on home detention although he said he would send an order to the jail requiring them to administer all of Jackson’s prescriptions and take him to all doctor’s appointments.
“Not fair,” whispered one of Jackson’s supporters from the back of the courtroom as the judge denied the request.
In previous plea hearings, defense attorneys have cast doubt on whether anyone could actually be charged with murder for the fatal shootings on that chaotic night last year.
The state is relying heavily on black and white CCTV footage taken from security cameras around the housing project. Prosecutors have written that they believe Jackson arrived at the party with Aaron Brown, 19, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and is sentenced to 12 years in prison. There were two other minors in that car, prosecutors alleged, and both those minors have taken plea deals.
In charging documents Jackson is accused of firing a handgun multiple times during the Brooklyn Day block party.
Police have said that ballistics at the scene indicate that at least 12 guns may have been fired on the night of the shooting. In a statement to WYPR, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department wrote that “the investigation is still active.”
Geller scheduled a date for July 25th to discuss future motions and a trial date.
