CHAMPIONSGATE, Fla. — New light is being shed on the 2022 murder of a tourist in the ChampionsGate community. Jeremiah Brown was killed just two days into his visit to Central Florida.
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His family said ChampionsGate is partly to blame because they were aware of security issues before it happened.
Investigators said the suspects went past security and entered through the exit lane of the development.
Surveillance video caught them entering.
ChampionsGate is a complex filled with tourists’ rental properties.
“His life was just beginning,” said Jeremiah brown’s mother Lorrie brown.
22-year-old California tourist Jeremiah Brown was killed.
“He came to Florida to celebrate becoming a certified forklift driver,” Brown said. “He was on vacation from the attractions and the amusement park. He wasn’t even here two full days when he was killed.”
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Tyrell Johnson and Jimmy Robinson III, who were 20 years old and 17 years old at the time, were arrested. The family filed a lawsuit against the ChampionsGate Security company.
“In the years and months leading up to Jeremiah’s murder in July of 2022, ChampionsGate in this subdivision had become the target for criminals preying upon innocent tourists,” said the brown family attorney Pedro Echarte.
Arrest documents revealed Johnson was part of an Apopka gang and was involved in 11 crimes in ChampionsGates leading up to brown’s murder.
“I always feared getting that call at 1am saying, telling me that my child is gone,” Brown said. “And that’s exactly what happened.”
On the day Brown was killed, the suspects drove past Champions Gate security through the exit lane. Brown was driving down the street when deputies say they attacked him, shooting him and then throwing him out of the vehicle.
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“I hope these companies learn from their mistakes so that murder can be prevented,” Brown said.
The two suspects were not charged with brown’s murder. Instead, they were charged with accessory after the fact and grand theft. Johnson is set to be released next year and Lee, now 19, goes to trial for his charges next month.
The family settled with the security company for $2-million.
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