SANFORD, Fla. — Sanford police are searching for a man they said threatened to kill a young boy.
Police said Dwayne Brown threatened Jeremiah Taylor, 11, for helping convict Brown’s friend, Daquan Butts, who was accused of accidentally shooting the boy last September during an argument with another man.
Detectives believe Brown might be hiding in Sanford.
“I just want everyone to leave my child alone and let everything be,” said Taylor’s mother, who did not want to give her name.
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She spoke out about the threat Friday.
“What I would like to say to Mr. Brown is, ‘What would make you say something like that to a child, who just got shot and is going through a whole lot of stuff?’” she said.
Taylor testified in Butts’ trial and the jury found Butts guilty of attempted second-degree murder.
Detectives said after the conviction, Brown threatened an intern with the state attorney’s office in the courthouse, and then Taylor while he was playing basketball in the same spot he was shot in last September.
“We have been looking for Mr. Brown for a number of weeks,” said Shannon Cordingly of the Sanford Police Department.
Investigators said they talked to brown over the phone, but he refused to turn himself in.
Now, they’re canvassing the neighborhood and releasing his picture in hopes the public can help track him down.