Jury convicts Aliquippa man of shooting Monroeville police sergeant | TribLIVE.com
TribLive Logo
| Back | Text Size:
https://triblive.com/local/monroeville/jury-convicts-aliquippa-man-of-shooting-monroeville-police-sergeant/

Jury convicts Aliquippa man of shooting Monroeville police sergeant

Paula Reed Ward
| Wednesday, October 15, 2025 11:39 a.m.
Allegheny County Jail
Jamal Brooks

A Beaver County man accused of shooting a Monroeville police sergeant last year was found guilty Wednesday on all counts.

Jamal Brooks, 33, of Aliquippa, faces a mandatory 20 to 40 years in prison for assault of a law enforcement officer.

The jury, which deliberated for less than three hours, also found Brooks guilty of attempted homicide, aggravated assault and two firearms offenses.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Elliot Howsie set sentencing for Jan. 12.

Brooks, who represented himself at trial, showed no reaction during the verdict.

During his trial, which began on Oct. 8, the prosecution played extensive video from both police officer body cameras and dashboard cameras showing the shooting of Sgt. James MacDonald and Brooks’ arrest.

Monroeville police were called to an armed robbery at Crumbl, a cookie store in Miracle Mile Shopping Plaza, at 9:13 p.m. on Jan. 3, 2024.

MacDonald, who was in the police station that night, headed toward the area to look for the suspect, who had been described as wearing black clothing.

As MacDonald drove down Monroeville Boulevard, he spotted a man wearing all black — but putting on an orange construction vest — walking along the road.

MacDonald swung his marked police SUV around to go talk to the man.

Almost immediately upon stopping on Stonecliffe Drive, MacDonald testified, he was under attack.

“Shots fired! Shots fired! Shots fired,” MacDonald shouted into his police radio as bullets peppered his car. “Stonecliffe. Stonecliffe. Stonecliffe.”

“Black male. Orange vest. Orange vest. Shots fired! Shots fired!”

After a first volley of six shots, MacDonald put his car in reverse to try to get away. But as he moved, the shooter moved to higher ground, firing 10 more times.

Three shots went through MacDonald’s windshield.

Two of them hit him, shattering his left elbow and traveling through his left buttock into the right side of his body.

Although MacDonald was struck, he helped other officers who had apprehended the suspect — still wearing the orange vest — a short distance away.

Officers found two guns nearby including a 9-mm handgun that matched the casings found at the scene, as well as a black bag that they said contained $969 in cash — the proceeds of the robbery.

During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Ilan Zur told jurors to rely on their common sense as well as the extensive video depicting the shootout and suspect’s arrest.

But Brooks, who chose to represent himself at trial, said he was wrongfully accused.

During closing arguments on Tuesday, Brooks told the jury that he had been walking back to a friend’s apartment that night when he came upon the bag.

He thought someone had dropped it as they got in their vehicle, so he picked it up with plans to try to find its rightful owner.

It was while picking it up, Brooks said, that police swarmed him.

He claimed he thought he was being set up.

Brooks, who chose to forego civilian clothes and appeared in court each day in a lime green jail uniform with a long-sleeve white shirt underneath, told the jury that the officers who testified lied throughout the trial.

“Everything they’ve done during this trial has been deception,” Brooks said.

But Zur gave jurors a different perspective.

“Every single piece of evidence in this case points to one person,” Zur argued. “It’s as simple as that — because he did it.”


Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)