Baltimore Police Officer Gahiji Tshamba Found Guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter in Death of Former Marine Tyrone Brown

Baltimore police officer Gahiji Tshamba was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Marine veteran and father of two, Tyrone Brown. The judge who presided over the trial, Baltimore Circuit Judge Edward R. K. Hargadon, said "The defendant overreacted and in fact exacerbated this whole tragic set of events." In the wee hours of the morning on June 5, 2010, off-duty officer Tshamba and Brown's paths crossed at a Mount Vernon bar. Alcohol and guns are a deadly combination.

Brown, 32, had been drinking, and he groped one of Tshamba's female companions that morning, sometime after 1 a.m. — that was one of the few uncontested facts in the case. But what happened afterward was harder to gauge, as testimony of one witness frequently contradicted the testimony of another.

Prosecutors said Tshamba was power-mad and angry, using his weapon to intimidate — and eventually kill — Brown, a much bigger man. While the defense claimed Brown charged the officer, who had to react with lethal force to save his life and that of others.' Source