Source: Office of United States Attorneys
Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York; Michael Alfonso, the Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”); and Jessica S. Tisch, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging TERRY BROOKS with three counts of possessing firearms and ammunition after a felony conviction. The charges relate to a November 12, 2023, shooting and the subsequent seizures of the defendant’s firearms and ammunition on August 14 and August 21, 2024. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Garnett.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said: “As alleged, on November 12, 2023, while on a public sidewalk in the Bronx, Terry Brooks reached into his waistband, pulled out a gun, and began shooting. Brooks missed his target but struck a nearby bystander, causing serious injury. Brooks had purchased more than 50 firearm components online and possessed privately manufactured and unregistered ‘ghost guns,’ but this did not stop law enforcement from catching him. Thanks to the work of the career prosecutors in this Office and our partners at HSI and the NYPD, Brooks has been arrested and will face trial.”
HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Alfonso said: “The defendant’s indictment today underscores the HSI New York El Dorado Task Force’s ability to aggressively pursue investigative leads in whatever forms they take. Violent crime precursors no longer fit one specific mold, and HSI, alongside the NYPD, continues to adapt to target alleged bad actors and predicate felons determined to commit crimes. New York City is a safer place with Terry Brooks off the streets.”
NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch said: “This indictment makes one thing clear: Untraceable ghost guns will not be tolerated in our city. Thanks to the meticulous work of the NYPD investigators, along with our law enforcement partners at HSI and the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, this armed perpetrator—who terrorized our streets and injured an innocent bystander—will be held fully accountable. Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe, and removing every illegal firearm, whether trackable or disguised, brings us one step closer to achieving that goal.”
As alleged in the Indictment returned today and the Complaint unsealed on January 30, 2025:[1]
On November 12, 2023, a man—subsequently identified as BROOKS—fired a gun in the Bronx, New York, near the corner of E. 180th St. and Bathgate Ave. The bullet struck a bystander, who was rushed to a hospital, received medical treatment, and survived. Approximately three minutes after the shooting, officers responded. Officers immediately found a shell casing at the scene of the crime.
After obtaining surveillance video footage from several sources, officers were able to track the shooter, together with a female companion, from a particular hotel room to the scene of the shooting and back to the same hotel room. Hotel records identify BROOKS as someone who was staying in the hotel room at that time. BROOKS drove a red Toyota Corolla to and from the scene of the shooting, and the license plate is visible in some of the surveillance footage. BROOKS has received moving violations while driving that Corolla, which is registered to a woman with whom BROOKS sometimes resides.
Officers obtained search warrants for two premises where BROOKS sometimes resides. On August 14, 2024, while executing the warrants, officers encountered guns, firearm parts, and ammunition in close proximity to objects and documents bearing BROOKS’s name and likeness. Ballistics testing established that the shell casing found immediately after the shooting in November 2023 had been fired by one of the ghost guns recovered pursuant to these warrants.
Finally, on August 21, 2024, officers arrested BROOKS in the same hotel where he had been staying on the night of the shooting. The officers recovered yet another firearm, which was in plain view on a nightstand.
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BROOKS, 58, of New York, New York, is charged with one count of possessing ammunition on or about November 12, 2023; one count of possessing firearms and ammunition on or about August 14, 2024; and one count of possessing a firearm and ammunition on or about August 21, 2024. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by a judge.
Mr. Podolsky praised the outstanding investigative work of HSI and the NYPD.
This case is being handled by the Office’s General Crimes Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Grossinger and James Mandilk are in charge of the prosecution.
[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the descriptions of the Indictment constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.