FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – In late 2025, an email landed in the 21Alive newsroom inbox with a subject line that would unearth a seemingly straightforward crime story: “witness recants in Fort Wayne shooting case.”
The message came from Charlene Thompson, a woman working to overturn the conviction of her childhood friend, Marr Brown, who was sentenced to 35 years in prison for attempted murder after shooting James Walker twice at a crowded Kroger store in December of 2018.
But the facts that seemed clear at trial — that Brown shot Walker, that Walker survived and testified, that Brown was convicted — are now the only ones not in dispute.
The shooting that terrified shoppers
The incident unfolded on a busy weeknight at the Kroger on North Clinton Street in Fort Wayne the week before Christmas. Customers fled in terror as gunshots rang out near the meat aisle…