On the night of October 30, 2021, Phillip Brown, a 44-year-old Black man from Bowie, Maryland, was working as a security guard at a private Halloween party at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Lanham. Known affectionately as Zeus to his family, the 6 feet 8 inches father of five had started his own security company about two years earlier. Just before midnight a dispute in the parking lot, reportedly over french fries, escalated and Brown was shot multiple times. He was taken to a local hospital after emergency crews arrived around 11:45 p.m. but succumbed to his injuries.

Investigators identified a man they said had been involved in the altercation; that man later sought treatment at a hospital with gunshot wounds and was arrested and charged in connection with Brown’s death. A second security guard at the event returned fire and injured the suspected gunman. After a trial, a jury found the accused not guilty of all charges.

If anyone witnessed the parking lot dispute or has information about what happened that night, please come forward.