HENRICO COUNTY, Va. β Two years after Julian McClenny was shot and killed while protecting his girlfriend from aggressive panhandlers, his girlfriend Courtney Brown says she finally has closure.
On Aug. 29, Deonte Winston, 35, and his girlfriend Katoya Brown, 37, were each sentenced to serve 60 years in prison for first-degree murder in McClenny's death. The couple from Crewe was also convicted of felony child neglect.
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"It gives me closure. I'm glad justice was served," Brown said.
The incident occurred on Sept. 2, 2023, what should have been a night of celebration. Brown had hoped to remember that date as the day McClenny met her family for the first time while celebrating his 30th birthday and her parents' 25th wedding anniversary.
"He was 6'4" so people looked at his size as intimidating, but he was definitely a gentle giant," Brown said. "Very sweet smile, I mean, his smile was bright."
But the celebration turned tragic just hours later as Brown and McClenny took a walk near their hotel in the West Broad Village.
"I could see Deonte, he was in the Whole Foods parking lot and belligerent, drunk, yelling," Brown said.
According to Henrico police, Winston was aggressively panhandling in the parking lot that night while Katoya Brown sat nearby in a van with the couple's four children.
Brown said McClenny protectively placed himself in front of her as Winston pursued her.
"I'm like, 'Come on babe, we're not going to do that tonight,' and Julian said, 'No, just please keep on walking and do what I said,'" Brown said. "And I was like, okay. I just took, like, two and a half steps, and I heard Julian ask him, 'Dog, why you got a gun in your hand?'"
Brown said Julian then tried to knock the gun out of Deonte's hand.
"So they tussle and he hits the van. They hit the ground, and one shot goes off and they just tussle, tussle, tussle then Katoya gets out her car I see her pull Deonte's shirt, and she fires her firearm," Brown said.
Using her own gun, police said Katoya Brown fired two shots, one into McClenny's stomach and another to his head.
"And I ran back down there at the point and I'm just screaming," Brown said.
Despite efforts from bystanders and later paramedics and doctors, McClenny died on Sept. 5, 2023.
Two years later, Brown said time is helping the healing process.
"My village, the support from his mom, his family, everybody has been amazing through the whole journey," Brown said. "I talk to his mom, if not every day, every other day, so yes, he brought me a new family."
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