New Jersey teen murdered as revenge for U.S. military killings in Middle East

Source: The Daily News
Author:  MEG WAGNER

Ali Muhammad Brown is accused of killing a 19-year-old in New Jersey and three men in Washington State. According to court documents, the 29-year-old claimed he wanted to kill the teen as an act of 'vengeance' to retaliate for U.S. military action in the Middle East.


The shooter accused of gunning down at least four men in two states said he murdered a New Jersey teenager as revenge for Muslims killed overseas.

According to court documents, Ali Muhammad Brown described his June murder of 19-year-old Brendan Tevlin as a "just kill" and said it was an act of "vengeance" meant to compensate for U.S. military killings in the Middle East.

In addition to Tevlin's murder, Brown has been charged will fatally shooting three men in Seattle. All four men were gunned down in remote areas late at night, NJ.com reported.

He is currently held in Newark, but he may be extradited to Washington state.

Brown is a devout Muslim opposed to U.S. intervention overseas, especially Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Iran, prosecutors said.

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"All these lives are taken every single day by America, by this government. So a life for a life," he told investigators, according to the documents.


Brown further justified killing Tevlin by claiming the shooting was a "just kill," meaning he targeted an adult man and did not put any women, children or elderly people in danger.

In police interviews, Brown described the U.S.'s military campaign in the Middle East as evil and said if a "man sees evil, then he must take action against that evil," the court papers show.

Police maintained that the June 25 shooting started as a robbery.

Officers said Brown fired 10 shots into Tevlin's Jeep Liberty when it was stopped at intersection early in the morning in West Orange, N.J. Then he got into the 19-year-old's car and drove it to a nearby apartment complex to abandon it

Two co-defendants, Eric Williams and Jeremy Villagran, fled the scene of the shooting before Brown took off in the Jeep, police said.

Brown was linked to the New Jersey shooting after police identified the weapon used as the same one used in several Seattle killings.

Police in Seattle said Brown shot and killed 30-year-old Leroy Henderson in April on a state road outside of the city. Investigators said Brown had no relationship to his alleged victim and the crime was likely motivated by robbery, drugs or crime.

Brown also allegedly gunned down Ahmed Said and Dwone Anderson-Young in June after meeting them at a Seattle nightclub.

The alleged summer shooting spree is not the 29-year-old's first run in with police.

Brown was arrested in 2004 for his part in a massive Seattle bank fraud scheme, the New Jersey newspaper reported. Police originally thought the accused crime ring shipped stolen money overseas to terrorists, but that claim was never backed up with evidence.

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