Schenectady County DA details arrest of juvenile who died in detention facility

13Investigates continues to follow the case of Caprist McBrown, the 19-year-old who died of a fentanyl overdose in a detention center in Loudonville.

Now, the I-team is taking a closer look at the crime that got McBrown into the Capital District Juvenile Secure Detention Facility.

The Schenectady County District Attorney, Bob Carney, said McBrown was charged because of his role in a gang case.

Carney said McBrown was with the gang, Bloods that was going to shoot members of another gang, Crip, at a home in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood of Schenectady.

Jennifer Ostrander died when she was shot in the head. Ostrander was an innocent bystander.

Carney said there were three shooters that night in August 2020; one of them was McBrown. He said McBrown shot at home but was not the one who killed Ostrander.

This was the first time McBrown had been involved in any crime. His record was clean before this.

Carney said this was McBrown’s initiation into Bloods, and he got arrested just hours after the incident happened.

“I think he knew that night that he was in trouble,” Carney said. “I think it was a peer pressure situation. Where he just went along with them…whether it was because he wanted to join the gang and be one of them or whether it was just, ‘I went along with it to go along with it.'”

In July, the McBrown family filed a lawsuit against Capital District Juvenile Secure Detention Facility and a John Doe, which the lawsuit claims are one of the people responsible for McBrown’s overdose death.

McBrown’s parents want justice for their son and an apology from the parties they say are responsible.

Watch NewsChannel 13 starting live at four on Thursday, August 17. 13Investigates will explain why Bob Carney says McBrown’s decision was out of character.