Background: The neighborhood in Hopkins, Minn., where Krystofer Brooks allegedly shot his girlfriend on Jan. 3 (Google Maps). Inset: Krystofer Brooks (Hennepin County Sheriff”s Office).
A Minnesota man who apparently told police he accidentally shot his girlfriend in the head was charged with second-degree murder.
Krystofer Brooks, 20, is in custody at the Hennepin County Jail after being charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of his girlfriend. According to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime, Brooks told police that he was making sure his firearm was “unloaded” on Saturday when he pointed the gun “in the general direction” of his girlfriend while she was sitting up in bed and pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting her right above her eye.
Officers from the Hopkins Police Department responded to a 911 call from Brooks, who allegedly told dispatchers that he shot his girlfriend in the head “while clearing his firearm.” When officers arrived at the apartment, Brooks was “sitting at the kitchen table with blood on his hands” and “crying.”
According to the probable cause statement, Brooks told police he took a THC gummy before going to bed the previous evening between 5 and 6 p.m. Around 8 or 9 p.m., he said he heard the sound of gunshots outside the apartment building where he lived with his girlfriend. Brooks told police he “loaded a magazine into his firearm but didn’t chamber a round.”
After he was brought to the police station and read his rights, Brooks stated to police that “he thought he removed the magazine from the gun that night but wasn’t sure.” He told police he did not provide any medical aid to his girlfriend “because of where she was hit,” claiming “he knew she was dead.”
First responders provided lifesaving measures to Brooks’ girlfriend but pronounced her dead at the scene.
Police said that while they took Brooks into custody, he made multiple “spontaneous statements,” including “if he could get a private room at the jail and if the beds are of quality.” He reportedly asked officers “if it was common for someone to feel empty after an incident like this and not have any emotion.”
Brooks is in custody at Hennepin County Jail, where he is being held on $500,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday.
