Devon Powell

In the early morning hours of a July day in Mariners Harbor, Staten Island, the life of 23-year-old Devon Powell was tragically cut short. On July 6, 2014, Powell was found unconscious and unresponsive near 86 Arlington Place. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency medical technicians. The initial reports of head trauma soon gave way to the grim reality that his death was a homicide, the result of gun violence.

The investigation into Powell's death quickly escalated as it became clear his murder was part of a violent crime spree. Within days, the New York Police Department identified a suspect: 25-year-old Tyrell Brown, an ex-convict who had been released from prison just two months prior after serving time for robbery. Brown's rampage on that July morning included not only the murder of Devon Powell but also the fatal shooting of another man, 40-year-old Kuwan Collins, less than an hour later.

Following the two murders, Brown continued his crime spree by carjacking a man at gunpoint and stealing his Hummer. This led to a multi-day manhunt that involved a dramatic chase across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, where Brown crashed through a roadblock as officers fired at him. His attempts to evade capture were ultimately thwarted by his own incompetence when he tried to steal a manual transmission car, which he did not know how to drive. Police finally apprehended him on Staten Island.

In May 2016, a jury found Tyrell Brown guilty of the murders of both Devon Powell and Kuwan Collins. The trial, which lasted two and a half weeks, detailed how Brown had robbed Powell at gunpoint for his State Benefits Card, an insurance card, and cash before shooting him. For his brutal and senseless acts, Brown was sentenced to life in prison, ensuring he would be held accountable for the lives he had taken. An appeal of his conviction was later modified to vacate two counts of second-degree murder on legal grounds, but his first-degree murder convictions and life sentence were affirmed.