Killing of Stephen Brown in Alabama in 1949

Incident

Case summary

Stephen Brown (1897 - 1949), a laborer, was killed by police officer J. L. Wilson in Montgomery, Alabama. Officer Wilson and his partner F. R. Knighten were patrolling when they claimed they saw a gun in Brown’s belt and asked him to hand it over. The officers claimed that Brown shot at them, but his gun failed to fire, whereupon they shot and killed Brown..

Victim(s):

Stephen Brown


Alleged perpetrators/other named individuals:

E. R. Knighten

J. L. Wilson

Perpetrator group type: police

Date of incident: 1949-11-24
Location: Montgomery, Montgomery County, Alabama
Location type: public space - urban
Allegation against victim: carrying a gun; attempting to shoot a police officer; resisting arrest

Coroner process
Coroner/inquest: [ ]
Finding of no legal responsibility: [ ]

Criminal process
Arrest: [ ]
Charge/indictment/information: [ ]
Grand jury: [ ]
Trial: [ ]
Conviction: [ ]
Sentence: [ ]

DOJ case ID:

144-1-121


Document(s):
federal agency records
military documents - closed
Data Fields
To learn more about data fields, refer to the data dictionary.
Cite this Page
Refer to how to cite.