Brownsville Old Timers’ Day shooter sentenced to over 32 years to life

Bahar Ostadan

Published Jul 5, 2023

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

Never miss a story

Email address

By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .

Hands hold a framed photograph of a person squatting.

Allen M. Pierre for Gothamist

Bahar Ostadan

Published Jul 5, 2023

FacebookTwitterRedditEmail

We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

A Brooklyn man was sentenced to 32-and-a-half years to life in prison Wednesday for killing a father of three during a gun battle at the 2019 Old Timers’ Day event in Brownsville.

There were more than 2,000 people and 100 police officers at the 56th annual party when Kyle Williams, 24, got into an argument with Jason Pagan. Williams fatally shot Pagan, 38, in the head and torso, sparking a gun battle that wounded 11 innocent bystanders.

“This wasn’t some sort of impetuous or thoughtless act,” Justice John Hecht said. “[Williams' conduct] killed an innocent man. It created substantial harm to our community. He endangered others.”

Police have not publicly identified a suspected second gunman or made an arrest.

Jason Pagan, 38, on the day of his murder in 2019.

Courtesy of Jailyn Pagan

Members of Pagan’s family, including his mother Bernice Perez, wore mint green in Brooklyn Supreme Court – the color of Pagan’s T-shirt the day he was killed.

“I buried my son and today I bury you, with the help of the courts,” Perez said to Williams before the sentence was imposed. “Remember that you destroyed two lives, two families – mine and yours.”

Perez, who has long been awaiting justice for Pagan’s killer, said she will now focus on the unsolved killing of her other son, Joel Moore, in 2007.

Williams said he was “deeply regretful” for the shooting. He said he’d opened fire because he feared he or his brother would be killed.

“It was a terrifying moment for all the parties involved,” Williams said. “I honestly believe that facing the things that I was facing, anyone in my position would’ve done the exact same thing. I just couldn’t watch my loved one die in front of me.”

Jason Pagan's daughter, Jailyn, and his mother, Bernice Perez, attended the sentencing.

Bahar Ostadan

But Hecht said Williams expressed “a lack of remorse.” Williams was found guilty of second-degree murder, criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment.

Williams and Pagan did not know each other prior to the shooting.

“I think we have to look at the entire person,” Williams’ attorney Edward Friedman said in court. “Kyle Williams didn't go to that park with the intention of spraying the park with bullets … He went there with a weapon as a means of protection.”

Perez rocked back and forth in her seat, crying as the sentence was imposed. “Hallelujah! I’m ready to sing some hymns, baby,” she said.

Jerome Bethea, Pagan’s brother-in-law, planned to speak in court but decided against it.

“The thing that I was gonna say to [Williams] was gonna be too harsh, so I had to pull myself back," he said.

“I kind of know what [Williams’] situation was,” Bethea said. “We’ve all been in these types of situations coming from where we come from … But what he did was overdo it.”

Friedman reflected on Williams’ actions after the sentencing.

“No upbringing is perfect in Brownsville,” he said. “When you’re influenced by the gangs, you’re recruited, you feel like your life could end any minute.”

Tagged

crime

brooklyn