EXCLUSIVE: Shooting victim chooses peace, not retaliation

By Dana Griffin

dgriffin@abc6.com

@DanaGriffinABC6

PROVIDENCE, RI- Russell Brown is not a gang member but has friendly ties to the Lockwood Plaza Street affiliate in Providence.

“I’m not looking for retaliation and I want the people in the streets from the other side, even the person or the people who took shots at me to understand that I don’t want retaliation and I’m not out here looking for you.

On Memorial Day, Brown was sitting in his car at a convenience store on Manton Avenue when he heard a thump on his car.

“I didn’t fathom me getting shot at. I didn’t think that was the possibility at the time so then I heard another thump at the car and then I’m like, oh they’re shooting,” said Brown.

He high–tailed it out of the parking lot as shots continued and drove himself to the hospital once he felt the back of his shirt covered in blood.

This comes during a heightened period of violence in the city.

Brown’s cousin, Kevin Mann Jr. was recently murdered outside a Providence hookah lounge. His killer has yet to be been found.

Russell’s mom, Auretha Brown said, “He’s a forgiving person so the person that did do this, like you changed my son’s life entirely; you brought him to where he needed to be.”

In front of his mother who flew in from Tampa, community leaders and a Providence police detective, Brown is doing something that makes many nervous. He’s been advised to leave town and lay-low, but he’s going against the common trend of picking up a gun to retaliate and instead, choosing peace.

“I don’t want this to continue to happen in my community. I don’t want nobody else to accidentally get shot mistakenly, or by affiliation and then them lose their life,” said Brown.

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