Student enters shooting plea
Fresno Bee 5/15/07
Moments after the 19-year-old was arraigned in Fresno County Superior Court, his father, Silas Brooks, spoke publicly for the first time about the incident May 7 in which police say Jonquel Brooks tried to kill members of his intramural basketball team at an apartment complex one block west of the university campus.
"We are a peaceful and God-fearing family. We raised Jonquel to be a God-fearing child," said Silas Brooks, who stood outside the courthouse with about 10 friends and family members -- including Jonquel Brooks' mother and stepmother.
"We don't know what happened [that night], but we are all in prayer," Silas Brooks said.
Jonquel Brooks' dream was to graduate with a degree in criminology and work with troubled youths, his father said. His son now faces one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Silas Brooks called the shooting a "tragedy" and offered his condolences to the family of Brant Daniels, the 19-year-old former Fresno State student who witnesses say Jonquel Brooks shot to death.
"Our hearts go out to them," Silas Brooks said.
He declined to comment further.
Jonquel Brooks' attorney, David Mugridge, said last week that Brooks suffered a grazing wound on his upper right leg, indicating Brooks may have been shot at and that he shot back in self-defense. Police say the wound was self-inflicted and happened accidentally.
On Monday, Mugridge said he has not decided how he will defend his client, but added that he "won't be surprised if this will be something of a self-defense case."
Mugridge also said that after Brooks contacted him the morning after the shootings, Brooks was willing to turn himself in only if his father and Mugridge were present. Brooks feared he would be shot by police, Mugridge said.
The attorney brushed aside questions about witnesses who say Brooks was known to carry around his gun and brandish it at parties. Fresno State student Kodi Shiflett, one of the four men police say Brooks shot at, said Brooks once described his revolver as the "perfect murder weapon."
"At this point I don't want to get into the facts of the case," Mugridge said. "For every person that tells you that, I can produce 20 that will say he's a nice guy and wouldn't do that."
Brooks remains in Fresno County Jail. Judge Houry Sanderson has set his bail at $5.75 million.
On May 7, four men -- Shiflett, Daniels, Fresno State student Roderick Buycks Jr. and prospective student Drew Pfeiff -- went to Brooks' University Village apartment to ask for the return of their PlayStation video game console.
Pfeiff and Shiflett say that after Brooks and Buycks began arguing, Brooks shot Buycks in the neck and fired a round into Daniels' chest. The four friends ran out of the apartment, but Brooks kept firing at them, striking Pfeiff in the shoulder.
If convicted, Brooks could face life in prison with the possibility of parole. Mugridge said Brooks, a Hayward High School graduate, did not have a criminal record before the shootings.