Three separate trials for suspects in Brooklyn Homes mass shooting, judge decides

BALTIMORE -- A Baltimore Circuit Court judge has decided that there will be three separate trials for the five suspects charged in the Brooklyn Homes mass shooting.

The shooting left 28 people injured and two dead. 

Aaron Brown, 18, and, Tristan Brian Jackson, 18, along with three minors, are charged with attempted first and second-degree murder. 

Jackson and Brown will be tried together, and two other minors will be tried together. Another minor will be tried separately.  

They are facing 142 charges combined from the same July 2 shooting.

According to charging documents, Jackson was on GPS monitoring for an unrelated crime, and the GPS shows where he was at the time of the party, and the shootings.  

The state says Jackson and Brown arrived at the Brooklyn Day block party together, while Brown can be seen on CCTV handing something to Jackson before he fired shots. 

Prosecutors say bullet casings from that weapon are consistent with a weapon later seized during a search of Brown's home and another shooting in which Brown is facing charges.

"The worst that could have turned out was that we were to be tried with three others and maybe four others," said Warren Brown, attorney for one of the minors. "To be tried with just one person helps us quite a bit."

The third minor is not facing any charges related to firing a gun but can be seen on social media pulling a gun out of a bag.

The lawyer for that third minor says the gun seen in the social media video is a toy gun. 

"We think that now that it has been separated, we can really go at them," attorney Michael Clinkscale said. "As I have said in earlier communication, they don't have the evidence to convict."