A Gary woman got 19 years Thursday for fatally shooting her boyfriend at a gas station.
Isedra Brooks, 31, pleaded guilty Nov. 14 to voluntary manslaughter — under sudden heat. She faced 10 to 30 years under the plea deal.
Judge Samuel Cappas sentenced her to 17 years in prison with two additional years in Lake County Community Corrections. She said she wouldn’t appeal.
Armani Handy’s family said he was about to break up with Brooks when the incident occurred.
Police were called at 1:45 a.m. March 21, 2022 to a gas station on the 4800 block of Broadway where Handy, 33, was on the ground near the driver’s side of a black Honda, records said.
Brooks was screaming for help on the car’s other side, police said. He was transported to Methodist Hospital in Gary where he was pronounced dead at 2:10 a.m.
Security video showed a man getting out of the car and walking around to the passenger side where he appeared to have a “physical altercation,” according to the affidavit.
He gets out and a fight appears to continue when he gets back into the driver’s seat. Then, a woman — later identified as Brooks — gets out of the passenger side and fires shots at him, it alleges.
The man slumps, while the woman gets her cell phone to call for help.
His father, Wilbert Handy, Sr. of Monroe, Louisiana, said in court Thursday he had just suffered a stroke just over a month before his son was killed.
When Brooks previously visited his home in Louisiana, she got into some sort of argument and the elder man told his son she wasn’t welcome back.
“She stole my son’s life,” he said in court.
His speech in court was slurred and his wife Shirley stood with him to clarify what he was saying.
“He’s hurt deeply,” she told the court.
Her stepson had two sons, the eldest who is starting high school.
Deeply grieving, Amani’s older brother, Wilbert Handy, Jr., said Brooks was “nothing more than a murderer.”
He said Brooks told others she “planned to shoot my brother,” and he alleged she couldn’t see him happy with someone else.
“I hope my brother haunts you for the rest of your life,” he said.
Lataja Mociers, of Georgia, the boys’ mother, said her sons were deeply scarred. One son has told her to be careful, saying he couldn’t lose another parent.
His death was “devastating,” “senseless,” and “preventable.”
Tarrance Foster, Brooks’ father, asked for leniency. He said the shooting was even more tragic because the families knew each other and grew up together.
It was a “very messed up situation” that “no one can fix,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor Infinity Westberg asked for 25 years, saying Brooks devastated two families by letting “her anger take over.” She argued Brooks called her dad, before calling 911.
The shooting was an “ultimate betrayal” and anyone else could have gotten hurt or traumatized by seeing it.
Defense lawyer Derrick Julkes acknowledged Handy’s family wanted someone to pay for his death. After the shooting, she sat and waited for the cops.
“She didn’t run,” he said.
He asked for a mitigated sentence.
Cappas told his family there wasn’t a “magic number” that would make his death easier.
After the hearing, Shirley Handy said her stepson had only been back in Northwest Indiana for about a month when he was killed. He fixed up homes and laid flooring. He had planned to get back to Louisiana to help with his father and be a bit closer to his sons.
“He loved those boys,” she said.
In the criminal affidavit, Brooks told police earlier both were at Joe’s Bar, 90 E. 53rd Ave. in Gary where Handy got mad with bar staff and they left.
When they returned to the car, she saw her gun was missing, triggering an argument, she said. When Handy drove to the gas station, she assumed he would kick her out, charges state.
They got into a fight again and he punched her in the face, she said. Brooks said she didn’t remember what happened next, only that she got the gun and fired, unsure if she hit him.
She walked around and saw him on the ground, but didn’t see any blood. She grabbed her phone to call her dad and police, she said.
