Thomas Breen photo
Kiana Brown's aunt, Sharon Brown, and family at Friday's presser.
More than two years after someone shot and killed Kiana Brown while she was sleeping at a home on Valley Street, the star high school basketball player’s family and city cops issued a plea for someone to come forward with information about who pulled the trigger.
The city and the state Friday announced a $25,000 reward for anyone who offers information that leads to that shooter’s arrest and conviction.
Police Chief Karl Jacobson, Assistant Chief Bertram Ettienne, and a dozen members of Brown’s family shared that news Friday morning during a press conference on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave.
They announced that the governor and the state’s attorney’s office recently made available the $25,000 reward for any information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Brown’s death.
Anyone can call the city police department’s detective division at 203 946‑6304 or the anonymous tip line at 203 946‑6296 to share information. People can also text a tip by texting to 274637 or email at [email protected].
Brown, a 19-year-old former Hillhouse basketball star, was shot and killed on June 17, 2020, when a bullet apparently meant for someone else hit her as she slept at a Valley Street residence.
On Friday, top cops and Brown’s family members said that the city still needs people to come forward to help solve this case.
“There were no witnesses on scene and the shooter is unknown,” Ettienne said. “To date, no one has come forward with any information” to help identify the shooter.
“We need people in the city that have information to do the right thing,” he continued. “To step forward, provide us with the information that we need to bring closure and justice” to Brown’s family and to the families of other city homicide victims.
“We just need a couple pieces,” Jacobson agreed. “And we need somebody in the community to come forward.”
Brown’s aunt Sharon described her late niece as “full of life” and as someone who “had jokes for days. She was just so special to us. She was a dancing fool. She loved to dance. She loved playing basketball. She was just so lively.” She called on anyone in the community, anyone in “the village” in which Brown and her family lived, to come forward to help solve this case.
“We are approaching what should have been a celebratory time,” Brown’s uncle, Rev. D’Hati Burgess said (pictured). That’s because his niece would have turned 22 this weekend. But instead of throwing a birthday party, he said, the family will instead be holding a memorial for Kiana.
This doesn’t get easier with time, he said. He urged people to come forward
“It’s OK to speak up,” Brown’s family friend Sheila Gilbert said.
Click on the Facebook Live video below to watch Friday’s police press conference in full.
Why'd it take 2 years for the state to come up with an award? And please don't say Covid.