Trotwood man sentenced for murder in Kettering gas station shooting

Police were inside BP when they heard gunfire in parking lot.

A 22-year-old Trotwood man was sentenced Monday to life in prison for a March shooting at a Kettering BP gas station while officers were inside.

Ja’Leel Raymon Brooks pleaded guilty as charged in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to murder and two counts of felonious assault, according to a release from the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.

He was convicted in the March 27 death of 21-year-old Anthony E. Gray Jr. of Dayton, and for shooting and wounding another man in a car at the gas station on Smithville Road.

Kettering police officers were inside the BP gas station on an unrelated matter when they heard multiple gunshots outside.

Ja'Leel Raymon Brooks

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

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Credit: Montgomery County Jail

“The investigation determined the defendant was a backseat passenger in a motor vehicle in the gas station lot. The defendant exited the vehicle and fired numerous rounds at the vehicle’s driver, striking the driver and another backseat passenger,” the release stated.

The driver, identified as Gray, was struck multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The second shooting victim was a backseat passenger who was shot in the leg but recovered from his injuries.

Brooks was arrested at the shooting scene and has been held since March 27 in the Montgomery County Jail.

He will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least 18 years in prison. He also was ordered to pay nearly $10,000 in restitution.

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