Casting a fishing rod into a metro Atlanta lake amid the occasional sound of splashing water against the humming of the wind.
That’s how Corey Brooks spent most of his weekends.
An activity his fiancée wishes their 2-month-old daughter could have eventually learned alongside him. That is, before he was gunned down in Clayton County on Dec. 2
“He was very involved in his kids’ lives. He was always there,” Jasmine Andrews said. “Not only providing but physically there, making sure they’re OK, making sure their mindset was good, always building up their confidence.”
Nearly every row at Restoration Deliverance Church of God in Forest Park was full Wednesday morning for Brooks’ funeral. A silver casket that glistened when caught in the light sat in the front of the room.
More than two weeks had passed since Brooks, the nephew of the mayor of Riverdale, had died, and the loss had not grown any easier to cope with, his family said.
In broad daylight, Brooks was shot multiple times at the Pointe South Shopping Center off Pointe South Parkway and Ga. 85, police said. By the time his brother De’Andre Favors got to the scene, Brooks was unresponsive.
Andre Bullock, the man accused in the shooting, was a person Brooks knew in passing, Favors said. Before Brooks could even say hello to Bullock, he was shot.
“My brother was walking up to greet him and give him a high-five and I guess he unloaded his gun on him,” Favors said authorities told him.
Bullock is facing charges of murder, aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
There was relief when Bullock was arrested, the family said. Still, many questions remain unanswered, questions they are unsure will ever be answered.
“It’s the unknown that is bothering everybody in the family because nobody knows what happened,” said Maria Wynn, Brooks’ cousin and the daughter of Riverdale Mayor Evelyn Wynn-Dixon. “What could he have done to you that you couldn’t even talk it over with him? The fact that you had to unload two guns on him.”
More than a hundred people were in attendance for Brooks’ funeral. The one notable person missing was his mother.
Family members said the grieving process cannot begin until they know she will be OK. Four days after the shooting, Brooks would have turned 32 years old. That’s the day Delores Brooks ended up in the hospital.
“My aunt is now in the hospital fighting for her life as a result of all of this stress,” Wynn said. ”When you hurt somebody, you just don’t hurt them, you hurt the family as well.”
Corey Brooks was more than a son to his parents, his father Nathan Brooks said during the funeral. He was a friend. Someone who stood up for his parents and loved ones. A son who never caused trouble.
“I didn’t pray about a lot of things and I just stand here before His dais and say, ‘God, I’m not mad, but I’m hurt.’ My boys have been more than my sons,” he said.
Credit: Family Photo / Arvin Temkar
Credit: Family Photo / Arvin Temkar
The hurt will remain for a while. Brooks’ fiancée said her 9-year-old daughter Kandice has been trying to stay strong. On the weekends, she would go fishing with her father. Other days, they would lounge on the couch, bickering about what movie they would watch next.
Kandice found comfort in Brooks, especially when she needed to talk through a problem. Andrews said the two were inseparable.
“She hasn’t really broken down because she’s trying to be strong for me,” Andrews said. ”A couple of days after he passed, (Kandice) said, ‘I hate the way that the world is because that man knows he didn’t have to kill my dad that way.’ So she’s strong, but she is hurting because she don’t have her dad anymore.”
Their 2-month-old daughter Kami will never have the opportunity to know her father — at least not beyond the photographs and stories others will share with her.
Andrews doesn’t want Kami to only know Brooks by his death, but instead through his desire to help others in need and his loyalty toward his family. She hopes to introduce him through the things he would have done with her and the things he did for others.
“You have two little girls who will grow up now without a father,” Wynn said. ”No one will ever take the place of their dad.”
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