Marselles Brown, the father of Boston Celtics superstar and NBA champion Jaylen Brown, was arrested and charged with attempted murder following a violent altercation with a youth football coach in Las Vegas.
Per TMZ Sports, Brown, who is a former professional boxer, is said to have repeatedly stabbed the victim, identified as Cross Tupuola, during the altercation that took place at the All American Park parking lot on Wednesday.
The victim’s girlfriend, in the arrest report, informed officers that the dispute stemmed from their car getting a ding from the door of a Lincoln Navigator as Brown was exiting that vehicle. She said that when Tupuola exited his vehicle to assess the damage, Brown downplayed what had occurred and claimed it was just a bump. She said Brown then referred to Tupuola as a “b*tch ass” before he began to leave.
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The woman said the two men got into a verbal altercation before they agreed to a fight to settle their dispute. She said that Brown, who is 7’0″ tall and weighs 300 pounds, ended up stabbing Tupuola repeatedly when the victim was not facing him. She said that was after the suspect drew an object in his possession.
She said that Tupuola, who is 5’9″ tall and weighs 160 pounds, ultimately attempted to flee after he tried to fight back, but Brown pursued him. The woman said that she and the victim managed to drive away and called 911.
The report stated that Tupuola sustained “stab wounds in the upper right chest clavicle area, a defensive wound on his left hand that penetrated his tendons, a slice wound that necessitated a partial gastrectomy to remove part of his digestive system, eviscerated bowels, and a broken right rib that may require surgery to repair,” TMZ Sports reported.
The victim was put in the ICU, and his condition was listed as critical at the time of this report.
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Police ultimately located Brown, and he stated that the dispute stemmed from a door ding. The suspect also received medical attention for a broken toe, scraped knees and an abrasion on his right cheek.
Multiple witnesses spoke with authorities in the aftermath of the incident, with one claiming that he even saw Tupuola’s “insides hanging out” when he raised his shirt. Authorities were, however, unable to retrieve the weapon.
On Thursday during his arraignment, Brown’s lawyer, Arnold Weinstock, told the court that his client acted in self-defense, TMZ Sports reported. The attorney also told News3LV that Brown was pistol-whipped by Tupuola.
“Everything I know,” Weinstock said, “and I’ve known Mr. Brown for quite some time, I do not believe that he initiated anything, and he is telling me that everything that occurred was him trying to defend himself after he was struck.”
But witnesses claimed that Brown rather initiated the attack and was not defending himself. A judge set Brown’s bond at $300,000. “Hopefully he should be out in the next day or two,” Weinstock said about his client posting the bond.
Per the entertainment news outlet, Jaylen, 28, and his father are not close, and the basketball star had no idea about his arrest or the altercation.
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