The final defendant facing charges related to the Brooklyn Day shooting in July 2023 was sentenced Tuesday to 45 years in prison, with all but 10 years suspended.
Tristan Brian Jackson, 20, was 18 at the time of the shootout in the South Baltimore housing project where Aaliyah Gonzalez,18, and Kylis Fagbemi, 20, were both killed and 28 others were injured.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Lynn Stewart Mays sentenced Jackson on charges of second-degree assault, conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, and firearms charges. After serving five years in prison, he will be eligible for supervised probation.
Jackson’s family members and a former mentor from Roca, a gun violence prevention program, gathered in the courtroom to hear the sentencing. As Mays read out the sentence, a woman in a yellow blazer began to sob.
Jackson faced a sentence of between five and 12 years in prison, based on the terms of his plea agreement.
At the time of the shooting, Jackson was on probation and GPS monitoring for an unrelated gun crime. Defense attorney Matthew Connell told the court that Jackson had permission from his probation officer to attend the party.
In his statement to the court, Jackson expressed remorse for how his actions have affected others. He shared his dreams to go on and become a licensed social worker to work with troubled youth later in his life.
With Jackson’s sentence, the saga of the Brooklyn Homes shooting comes to a close, at least for now. While five people, including Jackson, were ultimately charged and plead guilty to related gun crimes, no one has actually been charged with shooting Gonzalez or Fagbemi. Three of the people charged were minors at the time of the shootout.
“The criminal investigation into the Brooklyn Day mass shooting remains active and ongoing. While several individuals have been arrested and charged in connection with this tragedy — and some have reached plea agreements through the court process — we know that our work is not done,” wrote Lindsey Eldridge, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department . Eldridge wrote that BPD remains “deeply committed” to seeking justice for the victims, their families and the wider community while also urging anyone with information about the evening to come forward.
“This case is tremendously complex given its scale, and this outcome reflects our commitment to holding all individuals accountable for their actions on that day,” wrote Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates in a statement. “I hope this not only brings some measure of closure to those impacted, but also signals that we will continue to investigate the Brooklyn Day mass shooting and work to hold everyone responsible for the violence that took place that day and shook Baltimore to its core.”
In the earliest hours of July 2nd, 2023, shots rang out at the annual Brooklyn Day block party held at the Brooklyn Homes housing project where witnesses estimate nearly 1,000 people were in attendance.
By the time the gunfire broke out, the Baltimore Police Department’s Southern District had already received multiple 911 calls from people concerned about gun possession and crowd size at the party. The police did not act. In one call, an officer could be heard making jokes that for a crowd that size they would need the National Guard instead.
The incident inspired multiple investigative hearings into BPD before the Baltimore City Council and an after-action report. That report cited “officer indifference” as one reason that officers did not respond to calls for help sooner.
Correction: An earlier version of this story identified Matthew Connell as with the public defender's office.
