SPC Levi Brown served in the 2nd Battalion 16th Infantry Regiment at Fort Riley, Kansas. In his time with the military, he was deployed to Baji, Iraq, and was instrumental in protecting the largest oil refinery in the country. SPC Levi Brown survived his duties to his country, as an Infantry Mortarman, only to be taken from this world by his own mother over the weekend.
Rebecca Smith, a 48-year-old mother, used a rifle to murder her two sons, SPC Levi Brown, 25, and Garrett Brown, 24, on Saturday according to the New York Daily News. After murdering her sons, Smith turned the gun on herself in their Oklahoma home according to police.
Police have not yet revealed a motive behind the double murder suicide, but they claim there is a suicide note. According to the police report, Smith called her brother on Saturday morning, shortly after murdering her sons, to let him know that she was planning on ending her own life.
Deputy Ashley Mullen of the Muskogee County Sheriff’s office told reporters that Smith may have suffered from serious mental health issues and was taking “a lot of medications.”
Both Levi and Garrett Brown were going through rough times of their own. Each had recently gone through a divorce and moved back in with Smith while they tried to get back on their feet. Garrett Brown was a father to two young girls, ages 1 and 3, while Levi Brown was a decorated veteran who had proudly served his country.
“Levi went overseas, came back and got shot in his own house,” Leroy Brown, Levi and Garrett’s father, told reporters. “They were just two good kids.”
Friends of SPC Levi Brown took to Facebook to share the tragic news and mourn their fallen brother. One of his friends posted the following message to the social media site:
“My fellow Rangers, I wanted to post here to notify the veterans of 2-16 on the sad news that we have lost one of our own. SPC Levi Brown departed from this world on Saturday January 03, 2014. He was a fine soldier joining A Co. as a mortar in late 2009. After his deployment to Iraq he earned his EIB [Expert Infantry Badge] and Iron Dragon before later being selected to attend Special Forces training. He will be greatly missed…”
Both Levi and Garrett are thought to have been sleeping when they were killed according to the Tulsa World. The World also reports that after Smith called her brother to tell him she was planning on killing herself, the brother called 911. Less than 20 minutes after the initial call between Smith and her brother, police responded to the house to find three bodies.
By Brett Gillin © Popular Military
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