Hollywood motel shooting: Victim dies just hours after 2 arrests

Broward corrections deputies are holding Robert Allen Brown and Keli Jakiya Craig in detention without bond on Thursday. (BSO)

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – A convicted felon — who has been in and out of prison for years — was a fugitive for about 10 days. On the day the U.S. Marshals caught him, the victim of the shooting he was arrested for died in the hospital.

On Thursday afternoon, deputies were holding Robert Allen Brown at the Broward County Main Jail in Fort Lauderdale, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office records.

Recommended Videos



Brown, 27, had been there since Tuesday after the U.S. Marshals helped Hollywood detectives to arrest him in Plantation. They also arrested a co-defendant. Keli Jakiya Craig, 28, was at the Paul Rein Detention Facility on Thursday in Pompano Beach.

The shooting was shortly after 11 p.m., on April 9, at the Millennium Motel, at 2010 Dewey St., in Hollywood. According to the Hollywood Police Department, Fire Rescue personnel took one wounded victim to Memorial Regional Hospital.

Brown was on probation when the shooting happened at the Millennium Motel.

Records show Robert Allen Brown was in prison from 2015 to 2016 and again from 2017 to 2020. (FDOC)

The Florida Department of Corrections database shows he was convicted of two 2014 armed robberies and sentenced to six years, one month, and 24 days in prison. Brown was in prison from April 9, 2015, to June 1, 2016.

Records show it didn’t take long for him to be behind bars again. Broward prosecutors accused him of being in a stolen car when he crashed, caused serious injuries, got out of the car, and ran away on Aug. 19, 2016.

In 2017, he was convicted of leaving the scene of a crash involving serious bodily injury and sentenced to two years, six months, and 18 days in prison. Records show Brown was in prison from Nov. 9, 2017, to Aug. 1, 2020, and his probation was set to expire on July 31, 2023.

Officers didn’t release details about the April 9 shooting. They also didn’t release the identity of the victim. A doctor pronounced the victim dead on April 19, according to Deanna Bettineschi, a spokeswoman for the Hollywood Police Department.

On Thursday, in Broward, Brown was also facing a probation violation charge and Craig was facing an accessory after the fact charge for allegedly helping Brown. Deputies were holding both of them without bond.

Location


Recommended Videos