I'm new to SR as a game (and to rpgs in general), but have been a fan of the background for many years and have managed to gather a small group of other newbies to try playing it.

I will be the GM and one of my players has asked me on advice how to build his character, who was a german league urban brawl heavy (member of the team Anarchy Vienna). Until he shot a refree and had to leave Europe, to finally end up in Seattle.

So what skills should the average urban brawl player have? Is there anything heavies should be especially good at?

And, could he have stolen his gear and still use it?

Urban Brawlers make for good fighters, but the sport is usually not about killing, so he might have troubles with changing his mindset.
In general, Urban Brawlers should all be sufficient in Pistols, Perception, have tactical knowledge for Close-Quarter-Combat or Urban Warfare and wear their appropriate armor. Coming from a good team, they should have TacNet-Software and the sensors and commlink to match. Melee skills are also worth alot, but a Heavy might let that slide as he only should get into fistfight range when he is ambushed. He should of course be decent in Automatics(Assault Rifle/Submachine Gun) or Longarms(Shotgun). If he had a position like team captain, he might be good in telling people what do to

If the character already had a longer career, he is most likely cybered, either because he was hurt or because he had some improvements. Combat drugs don't sound too unlikely as (illegal) means to improve his performance.

To put it in a list, here is Skills and Equipment in short

Skills


Equipment


Of course, if he had to flee, you don't know what he managed to bring along. I'd even say that he can't have all he needs because you don't have all of this ready when leaving Europe to flee from authorities.

Thanks for the advice, probably he's going to have one full cyberarm and wired reflexes.

As the players in my group have decided they all have a Heart for Fictional People he won't have to kill very often and rather use a Shotgun with Stick'n'Shock rounds most of the time.

He'll probably get the skills you advised, maybe with Leadership so he can command the other runners in combat to make them more effective. (I think the option of helping other runners with their tests using leadership is very interesting)

And as for the equipment, I agreed with the guy playing the character he will start with a street lifestyle and that he managed to bring his shotgun and some ammo along, but not much else.