Two Men in South L.A. Home Killed

Detectives on Wednesday were investigating an overnight shooting inside a South Los Angeles home that took the lives of two aspiring musicians.

Edmund Oreefe Brown, 28, and Bryan Du’wan Brown, 23, who were not related, were killed by gunfire inside a house at 84th Street and Van Ness Avenue about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Los Angeles Police Department Det. Scot Williams.

Neither victim was involved with gangs, he said. Exactly how or when the gunmen entered the house was not clear, but both men were shot several times and the assailants fled, Williams said. No motive for the slayings has been determined.

Robbin Davis, Bryan Brown’s mother, was at home but in another room.

Agitated and tearful in an interview Wednesday afternoon, she said she was mystified over who might have killed her son, or why.

She said she believed Edmund Brown and other musicians had visited Bryan in his bedroom, although the door was closed. Bryan produced R&B; music using equipment kept at home.

When she heard four or five shots, she ran to her son’s room and found him on the floor, breathing sharply, his eyes slightly open.

Bryan Brown, a Los Angeles native, was passionate about music and fitness, Davis said. He kept weights in the yard and did 100 sit-ups a day, she said. He had been singing in R&B; groups from his early teens, and had more recently been trying to produce music.

Edmund Brown moved to Los Angeles from New York to pursue a career as a rap musician, said his sister, Tamar Brown. He had planned to move his family out of their Brooklyn neighborhood, she said.

Police ask anyone with information about the shootings to call detectives at (213) 485-1385.