Ray Brown, 55, a well-known community leader and advocate for Black-owned businesses in Oklahoma City, was shot dead on November 4, 2020. The shooting occurred on the eighth floor of a Bricktown hotel. Friends remembered Brown as someone who consistently supported others in the community.

Authorities say the altercation involved Brown’s on-again, off-again girlfriend, Tyesha Long, then 23, who drew a 9 mm pistol and shot him. Investigators found Brown’s body in a hallway some distance from the reported confrontation and determined he had been shot in the back from at least three feet away. Those forensic details and other inconsistencies led prosecutors to reject Long’s claim that she acted in self-defense. A jury later convicted Long of first-degree manslaughter and recommended a 27-year prison sentence. It was also reported that Long had an active protective order against Brown but had visited him several times in the week before the shooting.

Did anyone in Bricktown or the wider community have interactions with Ray in the days before November 4 that could shed more light on his last week?