OAKLAND — A local resident has been arrested and charged with murder in connection with a May 23 shooting during a brawl, court records show.
Deshaun Mays, 43, was charged with murdering 23-year-old Sir Jewel Brooks as well as multiple charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Mays was charged after police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of murder, but then determined he was not the shooter, court records show.
Brooks was shot and killed around 1:15 p.m. May 23, on the 1400 block of 90th Avenue in Oakland. An eyewitness later called police to report they were tailing four suspects in a getaway car leaving the scene, including the 45-year-old man, authorities said.
Police arrested the man, who had a cut near his eye, on suspicion of murder. But when investigators reviewed surveillance footage of the shooting, they determined it was Mays — not the initial suspect — who shot Brooks, authorities said.
The initial suspect reportedly called Brooks after the fatal shooting and left a message that someone had “busted my eye open” during the fracas.
Mays has prior convictions for domestic violence in 2005, kidnapping in 2007 and accessory in 2010, which make it illegal for him to possess guns, according to the criminal complaint.
Brooks’ storied history includes barely surviving an attempt on his life in 2022, as well as being one of the last people to see a homicide victim alive, in a 2022 killing that took place just three blocks away from where Brooks was killed.
In October 2022, Brooks was shot on board a moving BART train between the Fruitvale and Lake Merritt stations, and was hospitalized. Police said at the time that the shooter stood over Brooks and fired at least five times as he attempted to hide on the train, and that medical professionals likely saved Brooks’ life.
The following month, Brooks was one of the last people to spend time with 39-year-old Charles Bonner before Bonner was shot and killed on the 1100 block of 90th Avenue in Oakland. Police said at the time that Bonner called Brooks and Brooks’ relative for help after someone slashed Bonner’s tires in Oakland. Later in the day, Bonner and Brooks’ relative were getting food at a restaurant when someone shot and killed Bonner in a still-unresolved drive-by.