Local star athlete charged with murder

MANATEE -- Timothy Brooks, a promising Lakewood Ranch High School football star, was behind bars Monday, arrested on a murder charge leaving many that know him stunned.

Manatee County Sheriff's Office detectives say Brooks, 18, shot a man he knew in the neck Sunday evening during a dispute over a robbery.

Brooks is being held in the Manatee County jail without bond a day after detectives say he shot 19-year-old William White Jr., in the 1600 block of 27th Avenue Drive East, in Bradenton.

Sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said Brooks came to the sheriff's office with his parents at 1 p.m. Monday where detectives met him with a murder warrant.

"He knew we wanted to talk to him, but he didn't know we had a warrant waiting for him," Bristow said.

Bristow said Lakewood Ranch High's projected starting senior quarterback this coming season did not talk with detectives about White's killing.

"He didn't have much to say," Bristow said.

But a witness to the shooting did. A man who told detectives he and White drove to buy marijuana in the 1600 block of 27th Avenue Drive East, implicated Brooks and another man in the shooting.

The witness said he and White, who was in the passenger seat, bought the marijuana and were driving out of the neighborhood when they saw Brooks, and Cody P. Rogers, 18, who they both knew, according to a sheriff's arrest affidavit.

After stopping the car, the encounter turned sour when both Brooks and Rogers pulled guns. Rogers put a gun to the witness's head, while Brooks put a gun to White's head, the witness told detectives.

Brooks asked Rogers if White had robbed him in the past, before ripping a chain off White's neck. The witness then hit the gas pedal peeling out, hearing a gunshot ring out, the sheriff's report said.

He looked over and saw White bleeding from a gunshot wound to the neck. White was pronounced dead at Manatee Memorial Hospital at 8:39 p.m.

Brooks' arrest affidavit said the "gunshot wound on the front right side of White's neck would be consistent with the shot being fired from the passenger side," where the witness said Brooks was standing.

After the driver named Brooks and Rogers to investigators, sheriff's detectives searched for both men throughout the morning Monday, until Brooks turned himself in.

Detectives are still searching for Rogers, who is wanted on a principal to murder warrant.

Brooks' arrest stunned many that know him as a special football talent, teammate and neighbor. His family could not be reached for comment.

"It's tragic. As far as Lakewood Ranch goes our thoughts go out to all of the families involved," said Lakewood Ranch High Principal Mike Wilder.

Last year Brooks threw for 604 yards and six touchdowns, and rushed for 631 yards and seven touchdowns for Lakewood Ranch.

In a stunning performance against Punta Gorda Charlotte last year, Brooks ran for two touchdowns, threw for two and had nearly 300 yards total offense.

A two-sport athlete, Brooks also played basketball for Lakewood Ranch, where he averaged 8.4 points a game.

"Timmy, in his senior year, is an athlete who could take it to the next level. Right now, its an ongoing investigation, and we have to wait until it reaches its conclusion," Wilder said.

Lakewood Ranch football coach Shawn Trent said he wants more information before commenting on Brooks' arrest.

"Until I get all the details and talk to my principal and talk to my athletic director and talk to my kids, I don't want to talk," Trent said.

Zach Jackson, 19, a 2007 Lakewood Ranch High graduate and former basketball teammate of Brooks, expressed disbelief at his former teammate's arrest. "He's just a hard-working kid. He's a good kid. He's all about sports. It's very shocking," Jackson said.

Neighbors also expressed shock at Brooks' arrest. The news sent one woman into tears.

"Not Timmy. There is no way, he grew up with my kids," she said crying.

Brooks spoke to the Bradenton Herald in April as he watched former Lakewood Ranch football player Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie enter the NFL Draft.

He reminisced on advice Rodgers-Cromartie gave him on how to make it to the next level.

"He always keeps my head right, telling me the good things to do," Brooks said.