PHOTOS: March for justice in honor of Duquesne University student Marquis Jaylen Brown

Dannielle Brown has been on a hunger strike for over a week, sitting in a rocking chair at Freedom Corner in the Hill District, in protest of how Duquesne University police handled her son Marquis Jaylen's 2018 death. On Sat., July 11, on the ninth day of her hunger strike, Brown led a march from Freedom Corner to Duquesne University's Brottier Hall, where her son died, asking for a full independent investigation.

Marquis Jaylen's death on Oct. 4, 2018 was declared a suicide when he fell 16 stories, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Marquis was 21 and a Duquesne University football player. His mother, who is from Washington, D.C. and traveled to Pittsburgh for the hunger strike, has disagreed with how Duquesne University police handled the investigation from the beginning.
Brown started a #justice4jaylen GoFundMe on Oct. 29, 2018, and has so far raised $22,600 of its $25,000 goal. In addition to asking Duquesne University to allow her to open an independent investigation, according to the demands page on justiceforjb.com, Brown is also asking for Duquesne University police to be equipped with body cameras ("No body camera footage exists of the incident because Duquesne Police were not wearing them at the time of JB's death"), and for Duquesne University police to be trained to handle mental health crises ("JB was seen acting erratically in the time before his death. His actions were those of a student in a mental health crisis. Duquesne Police should receive specific training to handle mental health crises among the student body to make sure future students are not confronted with officers who do not know how to handle a mental health crisis.")

Please listen to Jaylen’s mom, Ms. Dannielle Brown, talk about getting answers for her son #JusticeForJaylenBrown pic.twitter.com/MewYvbftZ5

— 1Hood (@1hood) July 11, 2020