Trinell Brown is the second Baldwin County man within the past month to be arrested and charged with capital murder after allegedly slaying members of his own family.

Brown is accused of shooting and killing his parents on Saturday in unincorporated Spanish Fort. That killing occurred less than one month after 21-year-old Jared Smith-Bracy allegedly murdered his grandparents, his brother and a family friend on Feb. 22 in Daphne.

Both men could be eligible for the death penalty.

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It is a scenario that Baldwin County District Attorney Robert Wilters says is something he cannot recall occurring at any other time during his 30-year judicial and prosecutorial career in Baldwin County.

“We don’t have this in Baldwin County,” Wilters said Monday, moments after Brown, 25, had his bond hearing postponed until Tuesday after criminal charges of murder were upgraded to two counts of capital murder.

“Why it is happening now, I don’t know,” Wilters said. “Both cases are under investigation. We would like to know ‘Why?’ and ‘Why now?’ I don’t have any answers to those questions.”

He added, “And we may never know the ‘Why it happened.’”

Brown stands accused of going to his parents’ residence on Saturday to confront them about an ongoing family dispute. During the argument, Brown shot and killed 52-year-old Clemmie Brown and his wife, 42-year-old Syretta Brown. The shooting took place at a house on McFarland Road, off U.S. 31., northeast of the city.

Wilters said the killings on Saturday are believed to be unrelated to a horrific murder that transpired last month within the Lake Forest subdivision of Daphne. Smith-Bracy is accused of killing his grandparents, 80-year-old Leonard Smith and 72-year-old Barbara Smith; his brother, 27-year-old Jeremy Smith; and a family friend who was visiting at the time, 71-year-old Shelia Glover.

Smith-Bracy confessed to the crimes that include shooting Glover and Barbara and Jeremy Smith in the backyard of 123 Melanie Loop before returning to the house and bludgeoning his grandfather with a pickaxe. Authorities said Smith-Bracy then went back outside and bludgeoned the other victims with the axe.

Daphne Police Sgt. Jason Vannoy, last month, called the crime scene “the worst I’ve seen in 22 years.”

Wilters said his office is working with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office and Daphne police on both cases and “hopefully we’ll get some answers at some point in the future.”

“As far as I know, the families are not related and there is no connection between what happened Saturday and a few weeks ago in Daphne,” he said.

Smith-Bracy pleaded not guilty due to mental defect during his initial court appearance before a judge on February 24. Brown is supposed to go before Baldwin County Circuit Judge Joseph Norton sometime on Tuesday for a bond hearing.

The last motion in Smith-Bracy’s case occurred on February 28, when his attorneys – Thomas Pilcher of Bay Minette and Angela Walker of Foley – asked a judge and received permission to access the Melanie Loop home before police released it from being a crime scene.

It’s unclear when the next hearing in that case will occur. Assistant District Attorney Teresa Heinz told the local media last month that it could take around three years before the case can go to trial.

“If you’re charging someone with capital murder, you not only look at guilt or innocence, but you also look at aggravating and mitigating circumstances that could result in a death penalty sentence being issued by the judge and the court,” Wilters said.