16-year-old charged as adult in Brier Creek shooting tied to Raleigh 'teen takeover'
Raleigh police arrested a Durham teenager Friday they say is responsible for a July Fourth shooting in Brier Creek that injured two people.
Justin Brown, 16, of Durham, faces four felony charges, including assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, rioting and discharging a weapon into an occupied vehicle.. Brown also faces two misdemeanor charges of possessing a handgun by minor and going armed to terror of people.
Raleigh police responded to a fireworks show at Brier Creek on Saturday night after a group of juveniles broke out into “multiple fights,” The News & Observer previously reported. Two groups started firing shots at each other, shooting a woman in her car and injuring a passenger in the vehicle who was cut by the flying glass.
That shooting kicked off what police have called a night of chaos — which they attributed to a coordinated “teen takeover” — with thousands of young adults descending on Glenwood South, leading to multiple fights and shootings.
Brown allegedly gathered with six or seven other juveniles outside a Target on Brier Creek Parkway, leading to the shootings — which also caused an “unknown number of vehicle collisions” as people fled the scene, according to court documents.
Court records show Brown is accused of discharging a firearm into a Lexus sedan while it was occupied by two passengers, as police described after the incident. He’s also accused of shooting into a Honda Pilot SUV occupied by a mother and her four children.
It’s unclear if a second person involved in the gun fight, as police initially described, has been identified.
Brown was taken into custody and processed as an adult at the Wake County Detention Center before being taken to a juvenile detention facility, police said.
Brown’s arrest marks the sixth juvenile, or person under 18, charged so fa, two of whom received secure custody orders. But Brown is the first teenager to be charged as an adult for the weekend fights, in line with North Carolina’s Raise the Age law, which starts 16- and 17-year-olds out in adult court if they face a high-level felony.
A judge denied bail for Brown, court records show, citing the violent offenses he is accused of. He is set to appear in court Monday.
This story was originally published July 10, 2026 at 3:33 PM.
