North Country Gazette



SAO: Shooting Death By Cops Justifiable Homicide

Posted on Tuesday, 10 of November , 2009 at 8:20 pm

PINELLAS COUNTY, FLA—The office of state attorney Bernie McCabe has issued yet another finding of justifiable homicide, this time in the Oct. 29 shooting death of Kentin Brooks.

Brooks, 26, of St. Petersburg, was shot by deputies from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and an officer from the Indian Shores Police Department after Brooks allegedly opened fire on them following a brief pursuit in the vicinity of 19100 Gulf Blvd. Indian Shores.

On Oct. 28 about 11:40 p.m., police had observed a vehicle described as a later model black Mustang driving recklessly along Gulf Boulevard about 1:30 a.m. Deputies tried to initiate a traffic stop but the suspect did not stop. Deputies were in the process of initiating a pursuit, but called it off immediately and the suspect continued on, according to police.

A short time later, the same vehicle returned to the area.  Police said the driver of the vehicle began spinning his tires and racing past the deputies and officer as if he was attempting to engage them.

Deputies said they maintained visuals on the suspect vehicle as it proceeded northbound on Gulf Boulevard and rammed an Indian Shores Police Department cruiser.

At that point, Pinellas deputies used the pit maneuver to stop the suspect vehicle. The maneuver caused the suspect vehicle to spin off the roadway and strike a power pole at 19106 Gulf Boulevard.  A police officers were exiting their vehicles, the suspect allegedly opened fire from inside the Mustang, striking the windshield of both Pinellas Sheriff’s Office and Indian Shores Police cruisers.

Deputies and the officer returned fire. The suspect, Kentin Brooks, was killed.

The report by the SAO’s office says that in the days preceding his death,Brooks had been acting strangely, according to his wife, Alana Brooks. Kentin Deon Brooks had not been sleeping, was paranoid and had started taking the drug “ecstasy.” On Oct. 27, Alana Brooks had taken Kentin Deon Brooks to St. Anthony’s Hospital to have him admitted for a psychological evaluation, but Brooks left the hospital prior to being admitted, that being the last time she saw him, the report says.

At approximately 10 a.m., on the day of his death, Brooks went to the Regions Bank in St. Petersburg and asked to take $20,000 out of his account and access his safe deposit box. According to bank officials, Brooks only had 27 cents in his account, and he did not have a safe deposit box. Due to his strange but non-criminal behavior, the St. Petersburg Police were called, took a report and asked Brooks to leave the bank, according to the report.

Brooks drove a black Ford Mustang with heavily tinted windows up and down Gulf Boulevard between Madeira Beach and Indian Shores sporadically between 10:15 p.m. and 11:30 p.m., according to the report. He was observed by several citizens and law enforcement officers at times speeding and making U-turns. He appeared to be baiting the officers into chasing him, the SAO said. Deputy Thomas Randall allegedly clocked the Mustang going 60 to 65 mph and saw it go by him twice at 153rd Avenue and Gulf Boulevard. Indian Shores officers saw the vehicle come into and leave their jurisdiction several times. A decision was made by law enforcement not to chase the Mustang, due to the potential danger to other vehicles and pedestrians in the area, and the fact that the driver of the vehicle had only committed traffic infractions at that time.

Sgt. Leo Yates and Officer Paul Hayes of the Indian Shores Police Department both observed the Mustang going back and forth on Gulf Boulevard. Officer Hughes activated his lights, attempting to get the driver of the vehicle to stop, to no avail. Officer Hughes attempted to block the Mustang into a parking lot. The driver of the Mustang went past Officer Hughes’ marked police vehicle, striking the front bumper of the police vehicle. Officer Hughes radioed that the Mustang had hit his vehicle. The driver of the Mustang continued driving south, made a U—turn and stopped in the middle of the road at County Road 694 and Gulf Boulevard, the report says.

Officer Hughes pulled in a few car lengths behind the Mustang with his lights activated and also stopped. The Sheriff’s Office positioned marked cruisers behind the Mustang and ahead of it on Gulf Boulevard. After a few minutes, the Mustang took off again north on Gulf Boulevard.

Deputies Jeffrey Newman, Gregory Horton, Thomas Randall, Sgt.Yates and Officer Hughes pursued the Mustang north on Gulf Boulevard with lights and sirens. Just north of the Park Boulevard Bridge on Gulf Boulevard, Deputy Newman executed a PIT (Precision Immobilization Technique) on the Mustang to stop the pursuit. Deputy Newman struck the side of the Mustang, causing .it to spin off the road over the curb, rendering the Mustang immobile.

The pursuing law enforcement officers stopped their vehicles, exited, and loudly and repeatedly commanded the driver of the Mustang to get out of the car and show his hands. Bystanders heard the verbal commands, the report says. They could not see into the vehicle, due to the heavily tinted closed windows. The officers had their weapons drawn and were in or near their vehicles, positioned approximately 20 to 30 feet from the Mustang.

The report says that without warning, Brooks shot at the law enforcement officers from inside his vehicle, shattering the driver’s window on the Mustang.  Brooks allegedly shot at least three times before Deputy Horton, Deputy Randall, Sgt.

Fleming and Sgt. Yates started firing their service weapons back at Brooks who was still sitting inside the Mustang.

The report says Brooks shot at the law enforcement officers five times with a 9mm Skyy handgun, hitting their cruisers and two windshields. Sgt.Fleming fired 9 times, Deputy Randall fired 14 times, Deputy Horton fired 6 times, and Sergeant Yates fired his service weapon 13 times. When Deputy Gavin MacCubbin and Sergeant Fleming later approached the Mustang, they could see that Brooks. had been shot in the head, was deceased and still had his firearm in his right hand. The firearm was removed from his hand and placed on the roof of the Mustang. It was later determined that the firearm had been reported stolen in a vehicular burglary in 2008 in St. Petersburg.

Brooks was a convicted felon who had been released from prison on March

9, 2008. The Medical Examiner determined that Brooks had been shot seven times, with two of the wounds being from the same projectile. Brooks was shot twice in the head, twice in the back, once in the torso, once in the thigh and once in the left arm, with the bullet going through to the left chest. A drug screen revealed that Brooks had THC in his system, the report says. A small amount of marijuana was found in the Mustang.

The SAO report concludes that As a result of the investigation conducted by this Office, that when Brooks allegedly started shooting at the officers, they had reason to believe that their lives and the lives of the other officers were in danger.

Related Attachment: Click Here   11-10-09

Subscription Needed For Future Visits.   First time visitors are welcome at no charge.  Thereafter, readers who wish to read additional articles or plan on returning at a later time will need to be an advertiser or have a paid subscription to the NCG Daily Digest in order to gain access.  This policy will be strictly enforced and access will be denied to those who abuse it.  To sign up, see the subscription ad and PayPal button to the right of this page or at www.northcountrygazette.org  If you have questions, contact us at news@northcountrygazette.org

Bookmark and Share

Category: Florida, Government, Police

COPYRIGHT 2009 - NORTH COUNTRY GAZETTE All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of the publisher.