Duquesne renews commitment to Jaylen Brown's mother as she moves hunger strike indoors

A woman on a hunger strike searching for answers in the 2018 death of her son at Duquesne University said she plans to move into an apartment rather than remain in a tent encampment on the Hill District’s Freedom Corner.

Duquesne University President Ken Gormley wrote in an email to students Thursday morning that he has spoken to Dannielle Brown, mother of Marquis ‘JB’ Jaylen Brown. JB Brown, 21, jumped out of his dorm room window Oct. 3, 2018, after he returned home from an off-campus get together acting erratic.

Gormley wrote that he has asked a group of “respected leaders at Duquesne and others from the broader community” to form a team that will work with, assist, and listen to Brown. She has accused the university of not being completely transparent.

Brown has demanded full access to the university’s investigative file on her son’s death so her legal counsel can do its own independent investigation. Duquesne leadership has said it has made that file available, and she needs only for her attorney to sign paperwork for it; Brown, however, said confidentiality agreements and a stipulation the files be reviewed remotely are hindering her full access.

The team formed by Gormley – which he said includes medical professionals – will work with Brown and her attorney to “sit down and review all of the evidence in this matter,” which, he noted, “is at her disposal but requires following the correct legal protocols.”

At about 10 p.m. the night of JB Brown’s death, the football player returned to his Brottier Hall dorm after playing video games at a friend’s off-campus apartment. His roommate reported he was behaving erratically, knocking over furniture in his room and slamming against the walls, the university has said.

Witnesses later told police JB Brown had “two puffs of marijuana” at the apartment, after which “it was like a switch flipped.”

Students in Brottier Hall called campus police, who arrived and tried to defuse the situation. They reported he was skipping down the halls before returning to the room where police tried again to calm him down. Before anyone could react, JB Brown picked up a chair, smashed the room’s window and dove out, university and Pittsburgh police officials have said.

The medical examiner’s office reported marijuana in his system, though attorneys for the university have said there is no guarantee that toxicology tests would pick up a synthetic type of marijuana. They’ve said attempts to trace the origin of the drugs have been unsuccessful.

Brown arrived at Freedom Corner on July 4 with a white wooden rocking chair and a sleeping mat, having decided she would remain on a hunger strike until she received more answers. Supporters quickly rallied around her, bring her a tent, checking her vitals, bringing her liquids to remain hydrated and get nutrients and just generally caring for the woman.

She has demanded that university police be outfitted with body-worn cameras, and she wants them to undergo more rigorous training for de-escalation and working with students in crisis. The university has said it is working on both of those things.

Brown has begun spending some of her days on Forbes Avenue near Duquesne’s campus, often with a group of her supporters live-streaming demands for justice.

“I walked down to the entrance of campus Tuesday to speak again with Dannielle, to see how she is doing, and to convey to her, personally, Duquesne’s commitment to this new direction in seeking solutions,” Gormley said. “She seemed in good spirits and indicated that she would like to check with her legal team, but she appreciated the outreach.”

Brown, on her end, has decided to move her campaign indoors, writing on her Facebook page that she will rent an apartment.

“At Freedom Corner, the nights get extremely cold,” she wrote. “I don’t have enough nutrients in my body to keep my body warm. My body aches. The pain cannot be explained. I feel the wind in my bones. I have a team who sits around the clock at Camp Freedom Corner and the second wave of (covid-19) is coming. I can’t subject them to the elements of cold weather and virus in support of Justice4Jaylen For the Mothers campaign.”

She wrote that she will not eat.

“I will get the answers to what happened to my son,” she wrote, “until my last breath, at the gates of Duquesne University.”