'Don't Make Me Shoot You' Gunman Sentenced

ANNAPOLIS, MD — An Annapolis man who pleaded guilty to a September 2016 manslaughter charge has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for a fatal shooting, according to reports. Witnesses and the courts say that Antiwan Brown, 24, was not the initial aggressor in the incident that led to the shooting death of Walter Bryan, 46, and prosecutors and Brown agreed to the prison term in hopes that he can rehabilitate himself.

The judge in the case noted that while Brown has a criminal record that stretches back about ten years, he was largely left to fend for himself as a youth with little education beyond elementary school. When he was arrested, Brown was wanted for a probation violation for failing to complete an anger management course, the Capital Gazette reports.

Brown was initially charged with first- and second- degree murder in the September 2016 shooting, the newspaper reported. Bryan's death was the ninth of 2016, a number that broke the record for city killings in Annapolis since at least 1975, police records say. That September day, on Pleasant Street, Bryan approached Brown and the two argue. Witnesses said, and prosecutors agreed, that Brown initially tried to walk away.

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But Bryan, who was found to have a .24 blood alcohol level and PCP in his system, followed. He told Brown he was going to assault him and take his gun, witnesses told investigators, according to Assistant State's Attorney Theresa Morse. At one point, Brown said "Please don't make me shoot you," witnesses said.

Brown fired several warning shots, one of which hit Bryan in the stomach, the Gazette reported. Maryland does not have a "stand your ground" law, instead requiring citizens, while in public, to flee before using deadly force in self defense, according to the Maryland Criminal Lawyer blog.

Bryan was a much bigger man than Brown, said Harry Jacques Trainor Jr., Brown's defense attorney.

Brown pleaded guilty to manslaughter and a firearms charge in May 2018.

Article image Annapolis Police Department