Reward Offered For Information Leading To Arrest, Conviction In Delois Brown's Death
BOSTON (CBS) -- A cash reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Delois Brown's death. Brown, a Dorchester grandmother, was sitting on her front porch when she was hit and killed by gunfire in April.
On Monday, two Boston organizations announced they have raised $7,000 to go toward a reward and hope to raise another $3,000 by the end of this week. They said the money came from within the Black community.
"When a 72-year-old great-grandmother in Dorchester is not safe from a gunman's bullet then none of us are safe," said New Democracy Coalition Founder Rev. Kevin Peterson. "When a Black elder enjoying the warm breezes of springtime on her porch is slain in the glow of daylight, then we have a condition of crisis in Boston's Black community, we are not all safe."
"In some ways, we can police ourselves. So we call upon the community in unequivocal language: give up the murderer of Delois Brown."
He added that while Brown's life was priceless, the reward is so her life was not in vain. "The killer, he, or she, or they, need to be arrested."
Boston Youth Violence Task Force Director Rev. Eugene Rivers has lived in the community since 1968. "The money is a statement that somebody cares about the life of an innocent elderly woman," he said.
"When a 73-year-old elderly Black woman is murdered, sitting on her porch, there must be a reckoning because in other communities if a 73-year-old woman, innocent woman, is murdered on her porch, there would be a communal correction," said Rivers. "There would be a reckoning to correct the injustice against the defenseless."
"We're here because no one else in the Black religious establishment or the Black political establishment, stepped up and said 'how can we be more accountable?'"
Rivers also said he would be releasing a 10-point plan to mobilize faith communities on a local, regional and national level "to deal with the issues that created the tragedy with Ms. Brown."
Sources tell the I-Team Boston Police have strong leads in the case.