Baltimore man killed Saturday is stepson of local attorney

July 04--A man shot and killed outside a Northwest Baltimore gas station Saturday was the stepson of a prominent local defense attorney.

Warren Brown described his stepson -- 22-year-old Louis Young, who went by Cody -- as "a big teddy bear." He loved football, Brown said, and wanted to go into the insurance business.

"He was a good kid," Brown said Monday. "Just a nice guy. He had nothing to do with nothing. He didn't carry a gun, he didn't rob people. He was the type of person who would come to your aid if you needed help."

Police spokesman Det. Jeremy Silbert said police are looking for the assailants.

Police released surveillence footage from a BP gas station in the 3300 block of Garrison Blvd., in the Central Forest Park neighborhood, showing the seconds before Young was shot around 1 a.m. Saturday.

Anyone who recognizes the two suspects in the video is asked to call Metro Crime Stoppers at 1-866-7Lockup, text tips to 443-902-4824, or call the homicide unit at 410-396-2100.

Brown has put up a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the people involved. He said other Baltimore community members have called to offer reward money, and he expects the amount to grow.

Brown added he won't just rely on law enforcement officials to "get to the bottom of it."

"I represent people on the streets," Brown said. "I have people out there beating the bushes."

Brown said it is possible that his older son, Matthew Warren Brown, was the target. The two men were together at the gas station Saturday. The 27-year-old was arrested on human trafficking charges in 2015, and has been free on bail as the case remains open.

Young's killing was not the first time Brown lost someone close to him. His ex-wife, Donna Brown, was killed in 2008 after a domestic dispute with her then-boyfriend Joseph Coleman, who was convicted of second-degree murder the following year.

"I know we're not the only family going through this," Brown said. "It's a shame you can't go to bed and count on waking up and not hearing about the death of one of your loved ones."

Brown said he would like to meet with the business community and others to create a fund where families without his level of resources can access reward money.

"If people know they may very well be turned in because of this fund of money, maybe they'll be more reticent of committing these kinds of acts," he said. "There's got to be a pushback on what we've seen in the city, otherwise there will be more wailing and gnashing of teeth."

There were 170 homicides in Baltimore through the first half of the year, which is the highest six-month total since 1992. Five people, including Young, have been shot and killed so far in July.

Brown, who opened his firm about 30 years ago, said being a criminal defense attorney is part of who he is. But he said Young's killing now makes it difficult for him to contemplate representing someone who "gets up in the morning and looks for somebody to kill."

"I know that it happens -- that those of us who represent people who were charged with these types of things become victims ourselves," Brown said. "We understand that and we try to separate our professional life from our personal life.

"It gets you to the point where it becomes impossible to represent somebody who you know from your experience is a trigger-puller or likely to be a trigger-puller."

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