Deadly Justice: How a Preventable Tragedy Unfolded

Sarasota, FL — In the early hours of Saturday, May 18, 2024, a cascade of failures within the Florida criminal justice system led to a heartbreaking tragedy: one man dead, his brother—a star running back for the Auburn University football program—partially paralyzed, and a grieving community. At the heart of the chaos was the shooter, Darryl Bernard Brookins, Jr., a five-time convicted felon with prior arrests for violent crimes, who remained free despite an arrest just three months earlier for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor.

Tallywood Centre

The Tallywood Centre parking lot in Sarasota was alive with energy, as bass-heavy music from cars near the Hookah Lounge Marrakech filled the air. The lounge, open until 4 a.m., had drawn a crowd of over 200 people in the parking lot, according to Sarasota County Sheriff’s Detective Dwight Mattis.

Among the throng was Brookins, who arrived at 2:48 a.m., brazenly violating a court-imposed curfew of 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. after the recent sexual assault allegation. Violating curfew would soon become the least of his legal troubles. By dawn, Brookins’ disregard for a court order and the law would erupt in a deadly cascade of gunfire, leaving multiple victims in its wake.

Surveillance video obtained by the Florida Trident shows Brookins loitering, making phone calls, and texting before meeting the driver of a rented Hyundai at 3:25 a.m. One of those phone calls was to Nicole Roberts—Brookins’ girlfriend and the driver of the rental car, according to sworn testimony from Detective Mattis.

Mattis testified that the parking lot meeting between Brookins and Roberts lasted between 60 and 80 seconds.

“Based on investigation, we believe that’s when he armed himself,” Mattis testified at a Sarasota court hearing for Roberts on June 13, 2024.

At 3:26 a.m., surveillance video captured Brookins walking back to the west end of the Centre’s parking lot. Mattis testified Brookins had a distinct bulge on the right side of his waistband that wasn’t visible in video captured just before he met with Roberts in the adjacent parking lot.

A minute later, Brookins was leaning against the window of Choice Vacuum, another Tallywood Centre storefront. Brothers Tommy and Brian Battie were near their vehicle, a white Hyundai Genesis, parked 20 feet to the left of Brookins.

Multiple shots fired

Detectives obtained additional surveillance footage capturing the chilling shooting. According to Detective Mattis’ courtroom testimony on June 13, the video showed the Battie brothers approaching Brookins but without any weapon in their hands.

Mattis testified that Brookins quickly drew a gun from the right side of his waistband— the same spot Mattis had earlier noticed a distinct bulge after Brookins returned from meeting with Roberts in the nearby parking lot. Leaning around a man standing in front of him, Brookins fired multiple shots at the Battie brothers when they were just two to three feet away, Mattis said.

Tommy Battie was the first person to be struck. Then several more shots were fired. The footage shows the Battie brothers attempted to run away while Mr. Brookins was continually shooting at them, said Mattis.

“From the video, you could see the moment that Brian was struck in the head. He fell, at which point Tommy turned and returned fire, the last shot before the footage ended,” Mattis told Circuit Court Judge Dana Moss at a pretrial detention hearing on May 24 after Brookins was arrested.

Surveillance camera video and audio captured dozens fleeing the scene. A 911 caller frantically pleaded for help while urging Brian to hang on.

“Brian, stay awake! Breathe, Brian, breathe,” she can be heard saying during the call.

Tommy Battie was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot to the chest. Brian was rushed to Sarasota Memorial hospital with life-threatening injuries. Three bystanders were also wounded in the chaos. Brookins was also injured with a minor head wound.

An analysis of the audio from the video obtained by the Trident indicates a total of 17 shots fired. An audible cry can be heard as the last two shots are fired. Law enforcement later recovered 17 shell casings in the parking lot.

Brookins flees

Brookins fled on foot from the scene to the east, according to an arrest warrant.

Minutes later, Roberts, his girlfriend, picked him up within two blocks of the Tallywood Centre and they headed to Bradenton, in Manatee County, according to GPS data later retrieved by law enforcement from the rental vehicle.

An hour after the deadly shooting, Brookins and Roberts stopped at 315 24th Street NE on the edge of the Manatee River. A nearby surveillance camera captured Roberts walking down a dock and tossing an object into the Manatee River.

Two weeks later, the Sarasota Sheriff’s Underwater Recovery Force (SURF) would retrieve a weapon from the same location. An FDLE laboratory analysis showed it was a Glock 9mm. Detective Mattis testified the casings were consistent with those found at the crime scene.

Brookins and Roberts then traveled to Tampa. Later that same day, they returned to Sarasota and visited a Walgreens pharmacy on University Parkway where Roberts purchased first aid items.

The day after the shooting, Sunday, May 19, Roberts, Brookins’ sister, Kenya Clayton, and one other unknown individual returned to the scene of the crime in two separate vehicles to retrieve Brookins’ truck that had been left behind. Surveillance cameras and audio captured Roberts and Clayton pointing out the location of the cameras. At the end of the video, Roberts can be heard saying, “trying to shoot and don’t know what the fuck he’s doing.”

Clayton has not been charged with any crimes related to the incident.

Brookins and Roberts arrested

Brookins was arrested on May 22 on murder charges, two counts of attempted murder, and felon in possession of a firearm. At Brookins’ initial court appearance two days later, his then-attorney, Jacob Grollman, sought his release on bond, arguing the shooting was an act of self-defense. “He’s only a danger to someone who comes at him intending to kill him,” Grollman said.

Sarasota Circuit Judge Dana Moss issued a written order denying bond, finding Brookins had five prior felony convictions and posed “a great risk of physical harm to the community, as evidenced by his status on bond for a dangerous crime when he was arrested for four additional dangerous crimes that involved a firearm.” Brookins is presently in custody without bond pending trial.

Brookins has pled not guilty. He is represented by Omar Abdelghany, who was only recently appointed in the case. At the time of publication, attorney Abdelghany had not responded to inquiries from the Trident.

Roberts was taken into custody on May 31. She is charged with second-degree murder with a firearm for aiding Brookins, and tampering with evidence. Roberts remains in custody, unable to post a $250,000 bond.

Roberts is represented by the Office of the Public Defender and has pled not guilty. Public Defender Larry Eger declined to comment on the case, saying “it is our policy not to comment on a pending case.”

In the aftermath of the shooting, questions abound. How did someone with Brookins’ criminal history remain free after being charged with sexual assault on a minor victim just three months earlier?

Brookins’ criminal past

Between 2015 and 2024, Brookins racked up convictions for five felonies and five misdemeanors, after more than a dozen arrests in Sarasota, Manatee, and Pinellas counties, according to court records reviewed by the Trident. Brookins was also arrested in 2013 as a juvenile for grand theft of a motor vehicle and carrying a concealed weapon. (Juvenile offenses involving felonies are not exempt from disclosure under Florida’s Public Records Act.)

The list of charges against Brookins includes aggravated felony battery on a pregnant woman, throwing a deadly missile into a vehicle, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a convicted felon, perjury, multiple counts of battery, grand theft, sale of cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, resisting arrest, and leaving the scene of an accident.

Brookins’ prior convictions include two counts of sale of cocaine, perjury, battery, two counts of resisting arrest, two counts of marijuana with intent to sell, driving while license suspended, and leaving the scene of an accident. According to information on the website of the Florida Department of Corrections, Brookins was released from prison in January 2019 after serving a two-year prison sentence on three of those convictions.

Four of the charges Brookins was arrested on were dropped by the same State Attorney’s Office for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit now prosecuting Brookins for murder and the sexual assault case.

Court records in Manatee and Sarasota County show Brookins violated probation or pretrial release at least twice over a 9-year period. Those same court records also show Brookins failed to appear in court on three occasions.

According to court records, Brookins claimed he was indigent in every court case. Records show bail bonds posted totaling more than $330,000 for those cases during that 9-year period.

A chain of failures

Brookins had been arrested on February 21, 2024, for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor.  Michael Perry, a former city prosecutor and Sarasota criminal defense attorney with 30 years of experience, believed those charges were serious enough to have kept Brookins behind bars pending trial given his prior criminal history.

At Brookins’ first court appearance, Manatee County Judge Renee Inman found probable cause he committed sexual assault on a minor, according to an audio of the hearing obtained by the Trident.

Judge Inman ordered Brookins to be held without bond pending a pretrial hearing 5 days later to determine whether he would remain detained until trial.

Under Florida law, individuals arrested for certain dangerous crimes are not eligible for bond until a pretrial detention hearing is held, during which a judge evaluates several criteria to determine whether they should be released while awaiting trial.

Having the burden to produce evidence to support holding Brookins in jail until his trial, prosecutors prepared for the upcoming hearing, in part, by serving a subpoena on Manatee County Sheriff’s detective Melanie Wildt, the lead investigator in the sexual assault case.

However, on February 28, 2024, two days before the hearing, Assistant State Attorney Charlie Lawrence released Wildt from the subpoena.

According to public records obtained by the Trident, prosecutor Lawrence called Wildt two days before the hearing. When asked what happened during that phone call, “Wildt was informed that she was not needed to testify because the [prosecutor] was going to agree to a bond,” said Randy Warren, Public Information Officer for the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, in response to written questions from the Trident.

Later that afternoon Wildt emailed the prosecutor, saying, “If you change your mind, I am still available.”

Two days later, on March 1, Judge Frederick Mercurio presided over Brookins’ pretrial detention hearing. An audio of the hearing reveals Mercurio asked the prosecutor whether the State was pursuing pretrial detention. Lawrence replied saying the State was relying solely on the probable cause affidavit—a move the rules of court did not permit at the time because the affidavit is considered hearsay. The State presented no other evidence and did not call any witnesses.

Prosecutor Lawrence did not tell the judge she had dismissed the lead detective from the subpoena for her to testify. Nor was the judge told of any plan to agree to a bond for Brookins.

The minor victim, Alexis, did not receive any prior notice about Brookins’ pretrial detention hearing. (Alexis is a pseudonym. The Florida Trident is not disclosing the victim’s actual identity.)

The Trident obtained a letter from the State Attorney’s Office sent to Alexis dated February 27, 2024—three days before the hearing on March 1—but the letter was not received by her until after Brookins was released, she said.

Yet, the website for the State Attorney of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit includes a section titled “Victims’ Rights and Roles” and a personal message from State Attorney Ed Brodsky. “Florida law guarantees your right to be informed, present and heard, when relevant, at all crucial court proceedings” including “release of the accused pending judicial proceedings.”

Alexis told the Trident she would have appeared at the hearing to tell her story. “If I had known about the hearing, I would have been there to tell the judge what happened to me,” she said.

Brookins released

With only hearsay evidence presented, Judge Mercurio ruled the State presented “insufficient evidence to establish probable cause for pretrial detention,” according to the audio of the hearing.  

Brookins then testified about his employment as a tax preparer and his financial ability to post a bond. The prosecutor did not ask Brookins a single question about his ability to post a bond.

Brookins would later tell pretrial services officer Kasey Wright he was a self-employed music producer.

The prosecutor asked for a $250,000 bond while the defense attorney sought a $30,000 bond. Judge Mercurio set Brookins’ bond at $100,000, imposed the curfew, and ordered no contact with the victim.

Brookins was released later the same day, March 1.

Experts weigh in

The Trident asked a top-flight criminal defense lawyer in Broward County, James Benjamin, to review the court proceedings, emails, and other records to explain what happened with Brookins’ release for sexual assault on a minor.

“Based on the information I was provided to review, the prosecutor fumbled right out of the gate,” opined Benjamin, founding partner at the law firm Benjamin, Aaronson, Edinger & Patanzo.

Benjamin, a former prosecutor, and Past President of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the First Amendment Lawyers Association, was critical of the prosecution.

“It was the prosecutor’s burden to put on evidence at the pretrial detention hearing. Hearsay alone was not enough to continue detaining Brookins while awaiting trial. That’s why Judge Inman set the hearing 5 days after first appearance. The prosecutor should have known what was going to happen at that hearing without a witness,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin was particularly troubled by the prosecutor telling the lead detective not to show up because they intended to agree to a bond.

“In my view, that was an error. If the State intended to agree to a bond, they should have told the judge at the hearing.” Benjamin believed “the prosecutor simply went through the motions to put the onus on the judge for releasing Brookins.”

Attorney Perry also weighed in. “Based on what has been described, it sounds like no bond was warranted,” he said. “But even though the judge didn’t have that option, I would have placed as many restrictions on Brookins as possible pending trial.”

Andrea Flynn Mogensen, a board-certified criminal trial attorney who practices in the Sarasota area, said “it’s easy to be critical of the system or individuals acting within the system after the fact in a case like this.”

“Human nature is such that we look for someone to blame besides Mr. Brookins. But if Mr. Brookins, indeed, committed a crime after his release on bond, the blame falls on Mr. Brookins,” Mogensen said.

“It concerns me that people are going to look at this case, which is an outlier, and think that judges and prosecutors should seek to lock up anyone accused of a serious crime just because they are accused,” Mogensen said. “We have to remember that there is a constitutional presumption of innocence until a defendant is convicted.”

“The fact that judges and prosecutors are mindful of this is a good thing,” Mogensen added.

Jessica Johnston, an advocate for Alexis, the minor victim, with the Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center (SPARCC), had a different view.

Records reviewed from the Twelfth Judicial Circuit and the Venice Police Department show Johnston sought help from Detective Courtney Zak, a member of Sarasota County’s Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), after Alexis reported Brookins had repeatedly violated Judge Mercurio’s curfew and no-contact order.

On May 22, Johnston emailed Zak a rhetorical question about who had been arrested that same day for the Tallywood Centre shooting:

Yep you guessed it. The curfew breaking perp we tried so hard to get held accountable. Can not help but wonder if that one brother would be alive, had anyone held the suspect accountable to regulations of his probation.

An absolute shame.

Jessica Johnston, SPARCC advocate

State Attorney Ed Brodsky declined to comment on either the pending sexual assault case or murder case, citing the ethical obligation of a prosecutor to not comment on a pending case.

We want accountability

The victims of Brookins’ actions voiced frustration that transcends the explanations provided by lawyers about the criminal justice system.

“I feel like the justice system failed us all,” said Adriene Battie, the mother of Battie brothers Tommy and Brian. “We want accountability. The system needs to change, and those who failed us should lose their jobs,” she stated.

Alexis, the minor victim, told the Trident she depended on the system to help her. She repeatedly warned multiple law enforcement agencies and another prosecutor assigned to her case, Jose Herrero, about Brookins violating his curfew and no contact order.

“I found out the system is messed up,” said Alexis. She was critical of Herrero, saying she felt belittled and treated like a 6-year-old. “I wanted a different prosecutor the very first time I met him,” Alexis said.

This is Part I of a two-part story. Part II focuses on the impact on Brookins’ victims and the warnings by Alexis and others in the weeks leading up to the shooting that were ignored by multiple agencies.