Suspect in JSU shooting seen on videos in Pine Belt at time of shooting
A Jones College football player who is accused in the shooting death of a Jackson State student could not have done it, according to video evidence and eyewitness accounts that have been gathered by a former attorney who became a high-profile pastor.
“Jackson State University is holding two insane positions by continuing to imprison Joshua Brown for the shooting that took place on their campus on October 15, 2023,” Stan Buckley posted on Facebook.
Buckley — who is the brother of JC football coach Steve Buckley — was the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Jackson, but now he’s on a crusade to get JSU officials to set Brown free. He’s provided proof to show that Brown couldn’t have shot anyone in Jackson at 9:30, but Brown remains incarcerated. He was charged with murder and possession of a weapon on school property and is being held in jail without bond for the murder of Jaylen Burns of Chicago at University Pointe Apartments. He was taken into custody by JC Campus Police on a warrant from the JSU Police Department.
Based on the timeline of 911 calls at the time of the shooting and evidence that Brown was at the Krispy Kreme in Hattiesburg less than a half-hour later, so it is “literally impossible” that Brown committed the crime, Buckley wrote.
JSU “is alleging that Joshua Brown shot a person ... in Jackson ... and then drove 90 miles to Hattiesburg ... changed cars, then picked up a passenger, and then drove to Krispy Kreme, all in about 26 minutes.”
By continuing to keep Brown in jail despite the evidence, JSU officials are “asserting that it is perfectly OK to imprison a young man that they know could not have committed the crime for which they are holding him,” Buckley continued.
JSU officials have been provided with time-stamped security video of Brown at four different locations in the Hattiesburg area — including at JC — just before and just after the shooting, he wrote. The video shows him at locations in Columbia, Hattiesburg and Ellisville from 7:32 p.m. to 10:32 p.m. The shooting in Jackson was at 9:30 p.m. But “we have no information whatsoever that Jackson State has bothered to reach out to any of the four businesses to confirm or follow up with them regarding the video footage that we have already given them.” JSU officials also haven’t reached out to three people who were with Brown more than 90 miles away at the time of the shooting, Buckley asserted. Two of those are fellow JC students.
“Jackson State has NOT EVEN BOTHERED to reach out to any of them,” Buckley wrote. “Moreover, there is an entire dorm full of students that saw Josh on campus at a time after the shooting that makes it impossible for Josh to have been in Jackson at the time of the shooting.
“We are repeatedly told that nothing can be said and nothing can be done because there is an ‘ongoing investigation.’ However, this “ongoing” investigation doesn’t seem to be ‘going on’ since none of the witnesses have even been contacted. It should not take long to confirm what we have presented to the JSU investigator.”
Brown, a former Columbia High star, has a 3.0 grade-point average, has never been in trouble and was on track to graduate from JC in December and accept a scholarship offer from a four-year university.
“His entire life of hard work and making good grades and doing the right things is being destroyed by Jackson State University. All for nothing!”
In addition to the damage to Brown’s character, the ordeal is also costing his family thousands of dollars to hire an attorney — “All for nothing,” Buckley wrote. “All because they refuse to acknowledge that they arrested the wrong guy.”
JSU officials “should be ashamed — deeply, deeply ashamed for what they are doing to an innocent young man and his family. And the worst part is they know it ... It makes no sense. It’s cruel. I don’t understand it. I don’t accept it. And I never will.”
Buckley urged people to contact the JSU president’s office at 601-979-2121 or president@jsums.edu and leave a message: “Based on the video evidence that Joshua Brown could not have been present at the October 15 shooting, let Joshua Brown go.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rbHAnZyrZZOWua16wqikaKaVrMBwstGenJimlazAcLHXZqeaq6Skv267zWaaq62jlrGmedOoZKydpGK3pHnFqKatmpGhuW68y5qwnqpdm7%2BmsY6aqa2hk6GyoH3AcG%2BfaZSWeniExWpkammVmnp6fpBuZGlvlJqCeoWTa2hyaV6dwa64