Williamsburg Man Could Face Life In Jail For Axe Attack, DA Says

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — A Williamsburg man charged with an axe attack that left his girlfriend in critical condition and killed her friend could face 25 years in prison, prosecutors announced Friday.

Jerry Brown, 34, was arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Friday and ordered to be held without bail until his next court date for the brutal April attack inside the Bushwick Houses, prosecutor's said. He has been charged with second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault.

“The brutality of this attack, which claimed the life of a pregnant mother and left a second young mother fighting for her life, is truly appalling," Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. "These horrifying alleged actions have traumatized two families and shocked our community. I intend to prosecute this case vigorously and hold the defendant responsible for the violent crimes with which he is charged.”

Brown is accused of attacking his 21-year-old girlfriend at 1:35 a.m. on April 20 with an axe while his girlfriend's 4-year-old daughter was in the apartment. The daughter was unharmed.

His girlfriend was left with a severe laceration to the back of her head and gashes to her torso, arms and throat and is still in critical condition from the attack. Brown also fatally struck his girlfriend's friend, 20-year-old Savannah Rivera, during the attack.

His girlfriend, who was not identified, was able to make it out of the apartment and had an Uber driver that was stopped at a traffic light call 911, prosecutors said.

Brown surrendered to police later that day and confessed to attacking Rivera. He told officers that he threw the axe and his girlfriend's cellphone in the building's incinerator and that he washed blood off his hands before leaving the apartment, according to the District Attorney's office.

Should he be convicted, Brown could face 25 years to life in prison. His next court date is scheduled for Aug. 9.