Teen shot to death after his mother moved to Houston to escape violence

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Monica Glover says she thought nothing could hurt more than losing both of her parents.

“But to lose your child, it’s the hardest thing in your life,” said Glover. “It feels like my whole inside has been removed.”

Glover and her four children moved to Houston from St. Louis, Mo. in August 2017. She said she made the trek to Texas hoping to get her children away from a violent neighborhood.

“I protected my son for seventeen years and what I was protecting him from still took him away from me and that was the streets,” said Glover. She said her third child, Darrel Brooks, was diagnosed with bipolar and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.

“He didn’t carry guns, he didn’t do drugs, he didn’t sell drugs,” added Glover. “He was just one of those lovable kids. It didn’t matter what you needed done, he just did it for you.”

Darrel Brooks was a senior at Westbury High School and played on the football team. His family had only lived in a rented home on East Ridgecreek Drive for around two weeks when he was murdered. He woke up late on Dec. 20, 2017, and was trying to catch a METRO bus to school.

Houston police say the teen was walking along the sidewalk near the intersection of Ridgecreek Drive and Ridgestone Lane. It was broad daylight when a silver two-door hatchback pulls up alongside the teen and a man fires several shots at Brooks before traveling away.

“I don’t know if they thought my son was someone else and you just started shooting and by the time you realized after you hit my son that wasn’t the right person, I don’t know,” said Glover.