Man sentenced for killing constable working at Pittsburgh club

Oneka Jones believes her son was born to be a protector.

Willis D. Brooks worked as a school security guard and hoped to one day become a Pittsburgh police officer.

He also was a certified state constable and worked security at an after-hours club in Knoxville.

It was at that club, Nerdz Lobbi, more than two years ago, that Brooks, 32, of Duquesne, lost his life.

Around 2:40 a.m., as Brooks was removing a man and a woman involved in a domestic dispute from the Bausman Street establishment, he was shot multiple times.

He died a short time later.

“My son didn’t get to protect his self,” Jones told Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Alexander P. Bicket. “They left my son in the street dead. And I didn’t get to see my son. I didn’t get to hold my baby. I didn’t get to say nothing.”

Two men were charged in the shooting.

Akeyba Sanchez, 26, is scheduled for trial next month. Deontay Patrick, 26, pleaded guilty in May to third-degree murder, criminal conspiracy and a firearms count.

On Thursday, the judge sentenced Patrick to serve 11 to 22 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, the incident started when the man and woman were being escorted out of the club.

A witness told police that Sanchez started yelling at the man for striking the woman. Then, a short time later, Sanchez emerged from the alley and started shooting.

Video surveillance cameras also captured the shooting, showing Sanchez firing, police said. That same video showed a second man, later identified as Patrick, also firing, they said.

The suspects then fled in a red Dodge sedan.

Investigators used license plate reading cameras to track the car, which was registered to Sanchez. Patrick’s prints were found inside. They were both charged.

Patrick’s defense attorney, Matthew Capan, told Bicket that his client was at the club that night to drink and play pool like he’d done many times before.

“The defendant never intended for the victim in this case to die,” he said.

Instead, Capan continued, he got caught up in what Sanchez was doing.

“Sometimes it happens, we fall in with the wrong crowd.”

After he was arrested, Patrick cooperated with police and confessed, Capan said.

But that is little comfort to Jones.

“If you are sorry, you would have never done it. If you were sorry, you would have stayed with my son. You wouldn’t have left my son alone in the street.”

Jones also addressed Patrick’s family.

“I want to know if his mom and dad tell him every day that they love him because I don’t get to do that anymore,” she said.

Later Thursday, in an interview, Jones said that she taught Brooks from a young age to care for others.

“I taught him to protect the ones that couldn’t protect themselves,” Jones said. “I taught him to love everybody.”

But, she continued, she didn’t want her son to be a police officer or work in security because she worried about his safety.

“He wanted to show, not just the African American community, but everyone, that there are good cops in this world, and he was one.

“He was my first love.”