Family says man’s life destroyed by drugs

Keith Paul

Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2001 | 9:49 a.m.

The last months of Richard Travis Brown's life spiraled into a drug-induced haze, leaving him wandering around Las Vegas holding up stores for cash to buy more crack cocaine.

The 30-year-old's life ended Saturday morning after he is said to have turned with a gun in his hand toward a Metro Police officer, who fired several shots, hitting Brown three times.

"Seeing the (security) video of him waving that gun around in the convenience store, it's unreal," Brown's father, Richard Steven Brown, said from his home in Ogden, Utah, Monday. "That's not Travis."

But what Travis, as he is known to his family and friends, had become was exactly that. He became a prolific armed robber, hitting 41 pizza restaurants, convenience stores, doughnut shops and other businesses in about a month. His father says it was the drugs that took over his boy's life.

"He had fought it for seven years. He went to rehab twice, and each time he would do better," Brown's father said. "He was a happy, normal kid. I have a picture of him at his high school graduation, and he looks nothing like the pictures you have of him down there."

In the months before his death, Travis Brown had stopped coming over to see his 2-year-old son. His estranged wife, Brianne Brown, became so worried that, even though they were separated, she filed a missing person's report with Metro Police.

"He was a perfect father," said Brianne Brown, who lives in Las Vegas. "He just started losing interest in things. The drugs took over his life."

Police say his life at that point was little more than sticking a snub-nosed revolver in the faces of clerks and demanding money to get cash to buy drugs.

"He had no pattern," Lt. John Alamshaw said. "He became more aggressive and more agitated during the robberies."

In the end he hit four stores in a 24-hour period trying to get money.

Brown's life intersected with Officer Bryan Yant, a rookie cop, about 3:20 a.m. Saturday just after Brown had robbed another convenience store. Yant spotted Brown's getaway car and started chasing him on Charleston and Valley View boulevards. Brown spun his car and ran from Yant.

Capt. Dennis Cobb said Brown was reaching into his pocket as he was running. Brown then is said to have turned toward the officer, and Yant fired several shots. Brown was hit three times and died a few hours later at 9 a.m. Saturday at University Medical Center.

Both Brown's father and wife said there is no way that Brown would have ever pulled the trigger. Instead, they think it was his way of ending his life.

"Travis had a choice. He could have stopped right there," his father said. "If I had been a policeman, if I had been him, I would have probably done the same thing. I want to tell that officer I have no ill feelings toward him. I feel bad for him. He had no choice. Travis had a gun."

Brianne Brown said she believes her husband pulled out the gun in an attempt to force the officer to shoot him in what is called suicide by cop.

"I don't think he would have shot anybody, but the cops don't know that, so they had to take precautions," she said.

Richard Steven Brown doesn't make excuses for his son, but tried Monday to figure out what went so wrong in his son's life.

Brown's parents married young. His mother was 17, his father 19. The marriage dissolved in a couple of years. Brown and his mother moved to Washington state for a few years, and then returned to Utah. The couple even remarried briefly before splitting up again.

Brown remembers his son as a good kid who coached youth league basketball. A good kid who battled drug addition for years until the drug finally won.

His mother had an addiction of her own, alcohol, Richard Steven Brown said. Travis Brown watched two years ago as the alcohol shut down her liver, and she died in a hospital, his father said.

"His mother's death was very hard on him. He was very close to her," he said.

In April 2000, Travis Brown moved to Las Vegas. He stayed with his father before moving, but the elder Brown suspected his son may have been back on crack.

"He said he had a job in Las Vegas. He said he would call me in a couple of months after he got a place and I would come see him and his boy," Brown said. "And that's the last I ever heard from him."

Instead, he got a call a couple of months ago from Brianne Brown, who said the couple had separated and she didn't know where Travis Brown was. He had stopped coming by to see his son.

Brianne Brown said in the missing person's report she filed on Sept. 19 she had not heard from him, and he is "currently on crack cocaine and fears something might have happened to him."

Then on Wednesday she found he was the suspect in the series of robberies.

"He was a great guy when he wasn't on drugs," she said. "He was never violent, and he was always very polite."

Being polite was one attribute that the drugs didn't totally destroy. He reportedly apologized to clerks as he was robbing them.

But left in the wake of the drugs were lost jobs and failed attempts at drug rehabilitation to right his life.

"We did everything we could to help him," Brown's father said. "I think he just gave up and just ran it out as long as he could. He was a slave to crack cocaine."

Brown's family would often talk about the drug use and wreck it was making of his life.

"I had often remarked to friends and family that he will end up in jail, just outgrow the addiction or someone would kill him," Brown's father said.