Man once charged with 2,000 counts in shooting outside football game jailed in new case

A New Freedom man who once faced more than 2,000 charges from a shooting outside a football game is back in prison, held without bail on drug and gun charges.

Stephon Brown, 22, was arrested following a traffic stop that led to two foot pursuits by York City police late on April 1.

An officer sought to pull over a car at West College Place and Manor Street because its windows were allegedly tinted too dark. The car slowed, a door opened, and Brown allegedly took off from the passenger side, according to details in the criminal complaint.

The officer chased him into a yard and took him into custody after a struggle, the complaint shows.

In the process, police alleged, the officer found a handgun and about $5,000 in cash in Brown’s pockets.

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He also allegedly dropped a bag that held drugs in baggies. They added up to about 118 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 130 grams of cocaine, 31 grams of heroin and 28 grams of marijuana, according to the complaint.

While officers had Brown handcuffed and against a squad car, police said he allegedly broke away and ran along Kurts Avenue. Police chased him again before stopping him at Pershing Avenue.

Brown is currently jailed at York County Prison without bail while charged with counts of evading arrest, carrying a handgun without a license, escape, possession of drugs with intent to deliver, resisting arrest, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

This arrest came after Brown did some time in a couple of cases where he was a teenager charged as an adult, including one where he allegedly shot and injured two brothers outside a William Penn Senior High School football game in 2016.

Investigators said Brown, at age 15, opened fire on Darius Allen and Antwan Jackson Jr. during a confrontation involving several people outside Small Athletic Field the night of Sept. 9.

William Penn’s football team was playing their home-opening game against McCaskey High School of Lancaster County at the time. The stadium was reportedly packed.

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Brown was arrested and faced numerous charges, including two counts of aggravated assault and 2,000 counts of reckless endangerment based on the estimated size of the attendance in the stadium. Brown later pleaded guilty in 2018 in a deal that included dismissing 1,999 of the reckless endangerment counts and having him admit to just one all-encompassing count.

He also admitted to a count of illegal possession of a firearm by a minor and three counts of criminal mischief.

The aggravated assault charges were also dismissed because the shooting victims reportedly wouldn’t cooperate with investigators.

Brown was sentenced in that case to about one year to two years in prison, which amounted to time already served since he already spent nearly two years at York County Prison before his plea.

He was in trouble with the law again the next year, when, as a 17-year-old, he allegedly fled from a York City Police Officer one morning in January 2019.

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When he was stopped, police said, Brown dropped a handgun with an extended magazine he was carrying.

He was charged with two firearms counts, and then pleaded guilty to them a year later. He was sentenced to 3½ to seven years in prison, with a little more than a year of credit for time served.

In the new case, Brown is scheduled to face district court Judge Adrian Boxley Jr. on May 2 for a preliminary hearing, court documents show.

— Reach Aimee Ambrose at aambrose@yorkdispatch.com or on Twitter at @aimee_TYD.