A 17-year-old boy was arrested by Lakewood police Thursday on suspicion of murder for allegedly stabbing and stomping a man who confronted him and others about a loud party at an apartment complex. Court records allege the teenager recorded at least part of the attack.
Charging documents filed Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court state Brodey Drew Brownell taunted the 64-year-old victim while he assaulted him in the early hours of Monday, then fatally stabbed him before dragging the body into a dumpster enclosure. Surveillance video allegedly captured Brownell telling others at the party what he'd done.
"I ain't playing bro. I really stabbed the [expletive] out of that [expletive], bro," Brownell allegedly said as he ran up the stairs of the apartment complex after 3 a.m.
The News Tribune typically does not name juveniles charged with a crime. It is doing so in this case because the defendant will be charged as an adult.
Brownell appeared via Zoom for arraignment Friday afternoon to face charges of first-degree murder and first-degree assault. The defendant is being held at Remann Hall, the county's juvenile detention center. After hearing from a deputy prosecuting attorney and the defense, Judge Grant Blinn set bail at $1.5 million.
Prosecuting attorney Afton Gregson argued for that amount of bail, telling the judge the victim's death was an "absolutely horrific crime." She called Brownell a danger to the community and said he was a flight risk, describing how he tried to flee from police when officers moved to arrest him in Yelm.
Groans erupted from a packed courtroom gallery as Gregson described how Brownell allegedly videotaped himself beating the victim, showed the footage to other people at a party and then returned to stab the victim in the head and neck six to seven times when he realized the man was still alive.
Brownell has prior convictions for reckless endangerment and reckless driving, Gregson said. He was also previously arrested in 2021 in Thurston County on suspicion of harassment and making threats to kill.
The victim has not been publicly identified. Lakewood Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Charles Porche said the man was a resident of the apartment complex. Porche said detectives are gathering evidence about how the assault began.
"It also sounds like, unfortunately, another one of those kind of random 'you looked at me sideways' kind of things," Porche said.
Police responded just after 7 a.m. Monday to a report of a man dead near the dumpsters of an apartment complex in the 8100 block of 83rd Avenue Southwest, according to the declaration for determination of probable cause. When officers found the victim, records state, blood was flowing under the walls of the dumpster enclosure into the parking lot.
While officers investigated, police learned that an upstairs apartment 75 feet from the crime scene had been a "near constant" source of 911 calls in the last few weeks, according to the probable cause document. Complaints had reported wild parties, weapons and underage drinking.
Witnesses and a resident's surveillance camera helped officers identify Brownell as a suspect. Charging papers allege that he showed a video of himself stomping on the victim's head to at least two people.
It's the fifth homicide reported in Lakewood so far this year. At this time in 2022, the city had recorded three killings.
