'You stole my world': Killer of Pittsburgh club security guard gets up to 50 years in prison

Akeyba Sanchez tried to explain away the crime he’d committed by saying it had been a bad day.

“I’m sorry this happened,” he said Monday in court. “I regret it. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that.”

But, the prosecutor said, what Sanchez really meant was, he shot the wrong guy.

Willis Brooks was working security at a Knoxville night club on March 18, 2022, when he was shot and killed. Police said Sanchez was targeting another man that night when he shot Brooks, 32, of Duquesne.

On Monday, Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Edward J. Borkowski sentenced Sanchez to serve 25 to 50 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in December to third-degree murder, conspiracy and gun charges.

Another man, Deontay Patrick, was also charged in the shooting and pleaded guilty to third-degree murder. Video surveillance showed both men firing guns.

Patrick, who cooperated with police, was sentenced to serve 11 to 22 years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Chase Stelzer asked for a higher sentence for Sanchez given his previous criminal record.

In crafting Sanchez’s sentence, Borkowski cited the defendant’s extensive criminal history.

In February 2014, Sanchez committed an armed robbery of a pizza delivery driver. A few months later, he shot a man in the leg who was walking home from church. Two years after that, Sanchez committed a drive-by shooting at a house where a 7-year-old boy was sleeping on the porch.

Sanchez, 26, of Rankin, served time in the Allegheny County Jail and state prison.

Stelzer told the judge that incarceration showed no evidence of rehabilitation.

“There’s escalating conditions,” Stelzer said. “He continues to contribute to gun violence in our community.”

But more than that, the prosecutor continued, “The community lost an innocent man.”

Victim was constable

At times as Oneka Jones spoke to the judge on Monday, her heartache appeared to be physical.

Sobbing, bent over, clutching herself, Jones spoke about her son.

“He was the love of my life,” she began. “You stole my life. You stole my world.

“I can’t breathe anymore.”

Brooks was killed while working security at Nerdz Lobbi, an after-hours club on Bausman Street in Knoxville.

He was a certified state constable and had worked as a school security guard. He wanted to be a police officer, his mom said.

Around 2:40 a.m. on March 18, 2022, as Brooks removed a man and woman involved in a domestic dispute from the club, he was shot multiple times.

According to the criminal complaint, Sanchez yelled at the man being removed for striking the woman. A short time later, Sanchez emerged from the alley and started shooting. Brooks was the one who was hit.

“It wasn’t a bad day,” Jones said to Sanchez. “He was there to protect others.”

Sanchez’s mother, Laurita Powell, also addressed the court.

She began by apologizing to Brooks’ family.

“He made a big, huge mistake,” Powell said. “He’s done very good things in his life. He has a family that cares for him.”

Powell said her son has addiction.

“I ask God to forgive my son,” she said. “I ask the family to forgive my son. I ask my family to forgive my son.”