The last remaining person arrested and charged in connection to a mass shooting that killed two and wounded 28 others at the Brooklyn Homes housing project in 2023 is set on Tuesday to learn his fate.

But almost two years after gunfire erupted at an annual event called Brooklyn Day, many questions remain, including what ignited the bloodshed. And no one has been charged with murder in the killings.

“It was just mayhem out there,” said Warren Brown, a defense attorney in Baltimore who represented a 16-year-old co-defendant in the case. “I don’t think anything much is going to change. I think that it will be forever unsolved.”

In a statement, Lindsey Eldridge, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department, said the investigation “remains active and ongoing” and that police “know that our work is not done.”

“The Baltimore Police Department continues to work closely with our law enforcement partners as new information and evidence come to light,” Eldridge said. “We remain deeply committed to seeking justice for the victims, their families and our community.”

She urged anyone with information to come forward.

Prosecutors “cannot comment at this time” due to an “ongoing investigation,” James Bentley, a spokesperson for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, said in a statement.

The response to the mass shooting

Officers responded to the Brooklyn Homes housing project at about 12:30 a.m. on July 2, 2023, and came upon multiple crime scenes. Between 800 to 1,000 people had gathered for the celebration, prosecutors reported, which featured dancing, pony rides and snowballs.

Aaliyah Gonzelez, 18, a recent graduate of Glen Burnie High School, was pronounced dead at the scene. Kylis Fagbemi, 20, a forklift operator who wanted to become a traveling ultrasound technician, died at a hospital.

Baltimore Police released a 173-page report in August 2023 that detailed their ill-fated and hands-off approach leading up to the shooting, which found that officer indifference might have compromised awareness, planning and the response to the block party.

Meanwhile, the Baltimore City Council held oversight hearings to examine the city’s handling of the event.

During one of those hearings in the Public Safety and Government Operations Committee, Krystal Gonzalez, Aaliyah Gonzalez’s mother, delivered about 12 minutes of raw testimony, which ground the proceedings to a halt.

“I can never, ever, ever have the only thing that I want back,” she said. “Sometimes, I have to hug myself to imagine her hugging me back.”

How the arrests and prosecutions unfolded

Police arrested five people in the mass shooting. Two of them were shot themselves.

Law enforcement last made an arrest more than 19 months ago.

None of the cases went to trial, during which prosecutors would have had to call witnesses and present evidence.

Instead, Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Dunty, chief of the Homicide Division in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, only had to read a statement of facts into the record to support the convictions.

“The investigation determined unknown individuals began discharging firearms, which caused terror among attendees of the event,” Dunty said in court. “Individuals fled on foot, fled in cars, fled into various residences and even hid behind cars and homes.”

Three people accepted plea agreements in 2024.

A 16-year-old and 17-year-old who fired guns pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and possession of a regulated firearm by a person under 21. They both received sentences of five years in prison plus five years’ probation.

The Baltimore Banner is not identifying them because of their age.

Mikhi Jackson, 19, of Westport, pleaded guilty to possession of a regulated firearm by a person under 21 for a sentence of one year in jail plus two years’ probation. He was captured in a viral video pulling a gun out of a bag before the shooting.

The 16-year-old and 17-year-old declined to address the court.

When he was given the opportunity to speak, Jackson asked if he could immediately be released.

As part of the plea agreement, Jackson was required to participate in Roca, a nationally-recognized anti-violence nonprofit organization.

“I’m ready to get back into society,” he said. “I feel like I’m a better person.”

Baltimore Circuit Judge Jeffrey M. Geller spoke at length about his decision to accept the plea agreements.

“I do recognize that many in the community would applaud if I was to impose a lengthy prison term as a fitting punishment for these crimes,” Geller said. “They would likely say I should reject this plea agreement.”

“However, my role can never be influenced by public opinion,” he added. “It requires a measured approach that considers not only the severity of the offenses, but the potential for rehabilitation and your return to the community.”

The plea agreements ensured convictions, he said, and spared people from testifying and enduring additional trauma.

Geller said the dangerousness of their actions instilled fear and terror in the neighborhood and sent shockwaves throughout the city.

At the same time, Geller said, “I am mindful that you all are very young. And regardless of what sentence I were to impose today, you would all eventually return to our city.”

He said it was essential to connect them to social services.

“I am certain that everyone in this courtroom wants you to succeed,” he said. “It is not only in your interest, but in the interests of your family, and the interest of Baltimore as a whole, for you to succeed.”

Four days later, Aaron Brown pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder as well as attempted first-degree murder and use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence in an unrelated shooting, which happened on Harford Road near Grindon Avenue in Northeast Baltimore on May 19, 2023.

Brown, 20, of Baltimore County, was sentenced to 12 years in prison plus five years’ probation.

Geller delivered a similar message to Brown before accepting the plea agreement.

Last month, Tristan Jackson, 20, of Hillen, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree assault, second-degree assault, use of a handgun during the commission of a crime of violence and possession of a regulated firearm under 21.

He acknowledged that prosecutors could prove that he fired a gun in the direction of seven people who were running away or into the air to scare them.

Prosecutors described them as “seven unknown individuals.”

Assistant Public Defender Matthew Connell, one of Tristan Jackson’s attorneys, has said his client disputes firing a gun.

Circuit Judge Lynn Stewart Mays has agreed to hand down a sentence between five to 12 years in prison, which is scheduled to happen on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Mikhi Jackson has since found himself in trouble with the law — again.

Police reported that they were watching a CitiWatch camera at about 6 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2024, in Carrollton Ridge, and spotted a “possible armed person.”

Detectives stopped him, performed a pat-down and found a Taurus G2C 9 mm handgun, which was loaded with one cartridge in the chamber and 10 in the magazine.

He later pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a regulated firearm and admitted to violating his probation for a sentence of four years in prison.

“Mr. Jackson, I don’t know what went wrong,” Geller said. “Because I saw you less than three weeks before this new incident, and it seemed like everything was going OK. And I’m very sorry this is how this worked out.”

Geller expressed hope that his time away might help him decide “this is not the right way to go about life.”

Otherwise, he was going to keep letting his family members down and breaking their hearts over and over again, Geller said.

Now, Mikhi Jackson is awaiting trial on charges of first- and second-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first- and second-degree assault.

When he was incarcerated in the Metropolitan Transition Center, investigators allege, he took part in the stabbing of another prisoner.