Family and friends hold vigil for man gunned down near his home

The sun slipped behind the clouds Tuesday evening as mourners lighted the first candle in memory of William Patrick Brown.

About 24 hours earlier, Brown called a family member in a panic, saying someone was following him. He had just left his grandmother’s house, where he lived, headed for the gas station to fill up his gray Pontiac Bonneville. It was about 5 o’clock when shots rang out at South San Pedro and East 105th streets.

“It didn’t seem like an accident. It seems like someone had chased him down, that they were after him,” said Sharon White, a cousin.

Det. Rick Gordon said Thursday that the LAPD has not made any arrests yet and investigators are still looking for suspects.

At the vigil, tearful friends and family offered encouragement to one another just steps from the place in the Green Meadows neighborhood where Brown was shot. Mourners with heavy heads stole looks toward the end of the block where the 29-year-old died.

“We are here to do two things,” Brown’s uncle, Clarence “Regulate” Allen, said over a microphone. “Mourn Patrick and celebrate his life and memory.”

Allen, a member of the anti-violence group Regulators for 10 years, works with about 20 others to promote peace in the neighborhoods of South L.A.

The neighborhood where Brown lived isn’t a violent one, said Sarah Windham, a friend of Brown. “Older people and families live around here, so there are no threats.”

Windham and two others, Renisha Jones and Danisha Willis, stood on a far corner as others gathered to light more candles. The three women said they grew up with Brown and attended Locke High School together where he played basketball. His friends said he was good at math and watched out for others. He graduated in 2004 and became an electrician.

“He was the bomb. I could never imagine that he could have any haters, ” Jones said.

As the sun sank lower in the sky, the memorial candles were spanning the road, with a second row forming.

Candlelight flickered in the eyes of those in the street, but several stoic family members stood across the road. Some had left early. Others leaned on each other for support. Only the name of their slain family member could coax a smile.

“He was so fashionable.,” said Brittney Bruce, a cousin. “His shoes would match his socks, which would match his shirt. And he had these cool sunglasses.”

He could be a bit of a ham with those sunglasses.

“He would walk up to you, take them off and talk mess to you. Put them back on and walk away,” friend Scharlene Asberry said. “ It would drive you crazy, but you love him.”

Brown was raised by his grandmother Ida Mae Allen. Several family members said he was her favorite grandchild. Brown is survived by a brother, Milon Brown, two sisters, Roslyn Lott and Charlotte McGraw, and a daughter, Nevaeh, who is 2.

“He was the regulator in our family,” Lott said. “He kept all the young kids in line.”

The vigil ended with a single cry of “Patrick Brown.” As the mourners returned to their homes, Marvin Gaye was crooning over a speaker.

The street fell dark except for a lone streetlight -- and the vigil candles, casting a soft light a few blocks from William Patrick Brown’s home.

-- Jerome Campbell

Photos: (Top) Mourners form a circle in the street at a vigil for Patrick William Brown. Credit: Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times. (Middle) Patrick Brown in an undated photo. Credit: Scharlene Asberry. (Bottom) Clarence Allen, Patrick Brown's uncle, embraces Vicky Lindsey, founder of Project Cry No More, at Tuesday's vigil. Credit: Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times