Well, and the dead guy left in his wake. Man shot by customer in Virginia Beach during 7-Eleven robbery spree gets 25 years
He and his crew committed 5 robberies in about 2 hours. At the last place, they ran into a man with a concealed carry license. Ronald Lee Brookins Jr. got shot, arrested, charged, and now he has been sentenced to 25 years.
Brookins, 22, pleaded guilty earlier this year to multiple robbery, firearm and conspiracy charges. Federal law required that he receive at least 21 years.
Brookins was 18, a high school graduate and had recently completed basic training with the Navy when the robberies occurred
What he apparently avoided was a charge of Felony Murder, or whatever it is called in Virginia when someone dies during the commission of a crime. Brookins was shot, and the dead guy was one of his partners. Both of them were shot by the armed citizen.
The concealed carry guy was not charged, as his actions were deemed to be self-defense.
The customer who fired the shots, who was 37 at the time, didn’t attend Thursday’s hearing. He later said he had gone to the store to get a Big Gulp and was walking to the cash register to pay when the robbers rushed in and pointed guns at him, the store’s clerk and two customers standing at the counter. The customer said he fired at the robbers because he feared for his own life as well as the other customers and clerk.
People (family) wrote letters saying what a great guy Brookins is, but great guys don't commit armed robbery. People who don't know right from wrong commit armed robbery.
Click thru for more, including some choice words from the judge. That is where the quote in the title comes from, from U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith.
Brookins apologized to the court, the robbery victims and his family before the sentence was handed down. He told the judge he also struggled to understand why he would take part in something so “stupid and selfish.”
ReplyDeleteBrookins and friends Michael Moore III and Deric Simons entering the stores armed with guns and wearing hoodies pulled over their heads and around their faces.
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He struggled to understand why he would take part in something so "stupid and selfish." Well, he didn't seem to struggle about making the decision to do that along with the 4 priors.
I'm noticing a pattern in some of these shootings. The shooter is/was picked on as a child, or they were abused, or they had diagnosed behavioral issues, or they had this, or they had that. Okay, I can empathize. But they are not reasons or excuses for what he did. How many people have these same issues and never commit a crime?
God help us.