Homeless Man Convicted of Murdering Bed-Stuy Resident: Brooklyn DA

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, BROOKLYN — The 49-year-old homeless man who fatally shot an acquaintance in the face while robbing him on the border of Bed-Stuy and Brownsville in August 2015 was convicted by a Brooklyn Supreme Court jury on Friday of first-degree murder, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office said.

Keith Brannon, who lived at the CAMBA Atlantic House Men’s Shelter, was also convicted with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to the Brooklyn DA.

"After threatening the victim, this defendant robbed and shot him to death in cold blood. He’s now been held fully accountable for this deliberate and senseless act of gun violence," Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.

Brannon was convicted for shooting 32-year-old Bed-Stuy resident Christopher Tennison in the chest while robbing him at gunpoint. According to trial testimony, the incident occurred at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Sackman Street in Brownsville on the night of Aug. 8, 2015, according to trial testimony.

Cops found a cell phone on Tennison at the crime scene that had several threatening text messages that they traced to Brannon's phone, the Brooklyn DA said. Investigators then recovered a gun from the homeless shelter where Brannon lived, and it tested positive as the murder weapon, according to the Brooklyn DA.

Brannon, who faces up to life in prison without possibility of parole, will be sentenced on Feb. 6, 2017,.

An NYPD source told Patch soon after the murder that Brannon grabbed Tennison’s wallet near the homeless shelter on the Bed-Stuy/Brownsville border — then "shot him in the face."

A woman named Kimberly Del Pezzo said she was Tennison's wife in an email to Patch.

She called Tennison "an amazing person," and said his murder had been "awful."

Tennison's home address was listed by the NYPD as 2352 Atlantic Ave., near Brownsville — and just steps from the spot where he was killed.

Photo credit: Brooklyn DA