Brown was in the hospital for four days, has a permanent scar on the side of his face, and suffered nerve damage as a result of the attack. Hunter was convicted of attempted murder of both Brown and Treena. He is serving a sentence in the Clinton Correction Facility in upstate Dannemora, New York, and is not eligible for release until 2016.
After he recovered from the knife attack, Brown left the Farragut Houses in Brooklyn to attend the South Kent School in Connecticut. It is now a well-established trend for New York City’s star high school basketball players to leave the city during their prep careers, often moving across the Hudson to attend high school powers in New Jersey such as St. Anthony, in Jersey City, the Patrick School (formerly called St. Patrick), in Elizabeth, and St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark.
Brown played at South Kent Prep and led the team to a state championship game as a freshman. He traveled next to San Diego to live with an uncle, attending Hoover High School for a brief time before heading to Simi Valley to attend Stoneridge Prep.
When it appeared as if Stoneridge was on the verge of losing its accreditation, Brown again found himself without a high school. He was working out at a health club in Simi Valley when he met the boyfriend of Brittany Endres, daughter of longtime Thousand Oaks’ boys, Rich Endres.
Shortly thereafter, Brown showed up at a Thousand Oak boys basketball practice.
Endres told Brown he wasn’t allowed to talk with him, except to tell him that Treena, Brown’s mom, needed to call the school if he wanted to somehow enroll.
After viewing a video on ESPN about Brown’s story, Endres felt a desire to help. Eventually, he also made him an unusual offer. Brown could come and live at Endres’ home in Moorpark. Endres lives there his wife, Michele. Brittany, now 23, and the Endres’ son, Eric, 25, were no longer living at the house in which they were raised.
“After I viewed [the video] – and anybody who views it – you’ve got to have an open heart for this young man,” says Endres. “I mean, he’s gone through more than anybody I know.”
The video not only describes the attack, but Brown’s visit to his stepfather in prison in upstate New York. Almost immediately after the attack by Hunter, Brown wanted to know if his mother would forgive his stepfather. She had already made up her mind to do so. For Brown, forgiving Hunter – and knowing his mom did as well – was a big part of his healing process.
“It was tough going through all of that stuff,” he said. “But I moved on from that. I forgave and put it away.”
