DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County Sheriff-Elect Derwin Brown was gunned down in front of his home 25 years ago this week.
Brown died days before he prepared to take office on his promise to clean up correction from former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who had his rival killed.
In a Channel 2 Action News exclusive, Brown’s children opened up to Channel 2’s Karyn Greer about that night.
“I just started running up the street in the rain. And I’m like, ‘where is my daddy?’ You know, where is my daddy? And I remember a police officer stopping me at the top of the hill. And he was like, ‘Wait a minute,’ I was like, ‘That’s my daddy,’” Brandy Brown told Greer.
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Dec. 15, 2000 was supposed to be a night of celebration. Derwin Brown had just been elected sheriff on his pledge to bring integrity back to DeKalb County.
But as he pulled in his driveway that night, gunmen were waiting for him. Brown was shot a dozen times as he walked to the door with roses for his wife’s birthday.
For his children, the memories are vivid.
“I never would have imagined that anybody would have intentionally done that to him. Why? Nothing, any, nothing in his life would ever speak to say that he deserved something like that. I just couldn’t fathom it,” his daughter Brandy said.
Former Sheriff Sidney Dorsey was later convicted of orchestrating the assassination, an act prosecutors said was driven by revenge after he lost the election.
“I was just shocked that this happened. I was so looking forward to him achieving his dreams. And he worked so hard for. He fought for that. And to have that snatched from him like that was just unfathomable,” Brandy Brown said.
Brown’s children and grandchildren say time has not erased the pain or injustice they feel they have endured over the last 25 years.
“My father was our rock. If if if someone sat back and said, How do we destroy this family? That’s exactly what you would do. You would go after the nucleus of it. And that’s what they did,” his daughter said.
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“Some wounds never heal. May there will be it’ll never be closure for this type of pain or destruction. It’s like someone took a bomb and detonated the middle of our family,” his son Michael Brown said.
The emotional scars extend to their children. Brown’s grandchildren have grown up hearing stories about a man they barely knew or never got to meet.
Michael Brown named his son Sheriff Derwin Brown to create a lasting legacy for his father.
“So you hear it and it and it keeps his name alive. It keeps it going forward,” he said.
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