Joseph Willie Lee Brown, a 38-year-old Black man from Allentown, Pennsylvania, was found dead in the driveway of his home at 343 Columbus Avenue in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, after a 911 call around 2 a.m. on July 17, 2016. Investigators from the Pittsfield Police Department, the Berkshire detective unit of the State Police, the Berkshire Law Enforcement Task Force, and the Massachusetts State Police Crime Scene Services Section treated the case as an apparent homicide. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later ruled the death a homicide caused by a single gunshot wound to the chest.

Joseph was a father of five, a Springfield schools graduate, and worked as a painter and landscaper in the Pittsfield area. He was active in his community through the South Congregational Church in Springfield and the Black Father’s Coalition in Holyoke. Authorities asked the public for tips after the shooting; no arrests or suspect identifications have been reported online.

Did anyone in the Pittsfield area have information about Joseph or his activities on the night of July 17, 2016?