Trial of Alleged Towson Town Shooter Begins

The trial of a Baltimore man accused in the shooting death of another man outside the Nordstrom store at Towson Town Center began Tuesday.

Tyrone Chester Brown, 20, allegedly shot and killed 19-year-old Rodney Pridget just six days before Christmas 2011. Brown stands trial in circuit court before Judge Robert Cahill, the Baltimore Sun reports. Jury selection began at 9:30 a.m.

Prosecutors allege that the shooting was a planned execution and that Brown shot and killed Pridget as part of an initiation into the Black Guerilla Family gang.

During the trial of two other men involved in the shooting in August 2012, conspirator Jermell Monte Brandon testified to his involvement.

Brandon told the court that he first spotted Rodney Pridget while shopping at Downtown Locker Room with his cousin, Crystal Harris, at which point he contacted Frank Theodore Williams.

Williams, and William Ward III then came to the mall and met Brandon while alleged shooter Tyrone Brown waited in a vehicle. he said. Brandon received a call from Harris that she had spotted Pridget at the Nordstrom Rack and the three men made their way toward the store, Brandon said.

Williams broke off from the group and made a phone call while Brandon and Ward followed Pridget to the door leading outside of the mall. The alleged shooter, Tyrone Brown came down an escalator and walked outside after Pridget, he said.

Brown then allegedly shot Pridget to death.

Video footage from the mall's security cameras appeared to corroborate Brandon's testimony.

Brandon pleaded guilty to conspiracy and was given a 20 year federal sentence. Ward and Williams were each .

Both received life sentences.

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