Killer on ‘jihad’ murder spree in King County gets 93-year sentence

KING COUNTY, Wash. — A man convicted of murdering three people in King County and one in New Jersey was sentenced in court on Friday to 93 years in prison.

That’s on top of a life sentence that Ali Muhammad Brown is already serving for fatally shooting a young man in New Jersey.

It’s been eight years since the 2014 murders that Brown self-described as a “jihad” killing spree.

Family members of murder victims spoke to the sentencing judge Jim Rogers in King County Superior Court, sharing their years of unspeakable pain and pleading for justice.

“You have to bear with me because it is very difficult to be in the same room with this monster that murdered my son,” said Falana Young through tears. Young is the mom of Dwone Anderson-Young, who was 23 years old when Brown killed him.

“Eight years I have been waiting for closure. To get my day in court to speak about my son and talk about the wonderful man that he is,” Young said. “It’s like my life has been on hold for eight years,” she said.

Brown has been convicted of murdering four people. He spoke to the families in court toward the end of his sentencing hearing.

“I’d like to apologize to the family members and let them know I do regret killing their family members. And there’s nothing I can do to change it now because it’s already been done,” Brown said. “I wish I could go back in time and change that with all my heart. I wish I could go back in time and change instead of being evil,” he said.

The four shootings called “executions” by prosecutors happened in 2014.

At the time, Brown said in interviews with investigators that his motive was to avenge US foreign policy in the Middle East.

“I decided to do those things because I was misguided by Islamic jihad,” Brown said in court Friday.

On April 27, 2014, he shot 30-year-old Leroy Henderson in the back and killed him as Henderson was walking home from a convenience store in Skyway after buying a soda and chips for his uncle.

About a month later on June 1, Brown connected with two young men on a gay social networking app and met up with them at a bar in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.

In their car, he shot them both. One victim was 27-year-old Ahmed Said. The other was Anderson-Young. Brown told investigators he killed them because they were gay.

“They had to identify him by his orthodontist records,” Young said. She says her son came out to her when he was 14.

“I said, ‘I don’t care. I love you, you’re my son.’ My concern was, you’re black, you’re male and you’re gay, and not everyone is going to accept you. And my worst fear came true,” Young said through tears.

Family described Anderson-Young as “brilliant” – a University of Washington grad and the first in his family to finish college. Multiple family members and pleaded in court for justice.

“I just ask you give him the maximum,” Young said.

After killing three men in King County, Brown escaped to New Jersey. In the Newark area, he killed another young man, 19-year-old Brendan Tevelin, who was sitting in his car at a traffic light.

Brown was arrested and ultimately sentenced to life in prison for that crime.

In 2019, Brown was extradited back to King County to face charges for the crimes committed. Finally, the victims’ families are at the end of a long, long wait.

“It’s been eight years. And I just want my closure,” Young said.

A judge sentenced Brown to 93 years in prison to be served consecutively to his life sentence in New Jersey, instead of concurrently – clearly a symbolic gesture.

“You’ll be in prison for the rest of your natural life, and that concludes my sentence,” said Judge Jim Rogers to Brown as victims’ family members clapped.

Prosecutors say the plan is to send Brown back to New Jersey to serve his life sentence there, where he was first convicted.

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