When Tyshawn Brooks forced his way into a Kennewick apartment earlier this year, he was supposed to be 130 miles away.
Brooks was supposed to be serving an eight-year sentence for robbing and shooting a teen, but instead prosecutors say he went on a three-month crime spree that ended in April, prosecutors said.
He had another year added to his sentence last week after entering an Alford plea in Benton County Superior Court to residential burglary, third-degree malicious mischief and two counts of misdemeanor assault.
The Alford plea means he doesn't admit to committing the crime, but feels he could have been convicted if the case went to trial.
While Brooks admitted that he shouldn't have been out of custody, he blamed the system during his sentencing and said "they never gave me the chance to do right."
His statement was met with surprise by Deputy Prosecutor Kristin McRoberts, who said the 20-year-old was already getting a break with his initial sentence before escaping the juvenile facility in January.
Judge Jackie Shea Brown said Brooks' history is problematic.
"I don't see that you're making the decisions that are moving your life in the right direction," she said. "You have lots of time that you're going to be serving. It's important that you figure out how to get on track."
Brooks was facing between a year and a year and two months in prison. Prosecutors and his defense attorney asked for a sentence of a year and a month in prison.
That will be added onto the time he's already serving that was supposed to keep him in a state juvenile rehabilitation facility until he turned 26.
It's not clear at this point whether he will go back to the juvenile facility or is headed to prison.
Robbery and escape
Brooks was 16 when he arranged to buy two boxes of e-cigarettes from an 18-year-old on Jan. 8, 2021.
The 18-year-old had known Brooks since middle school and had arranged to meet him at the Heatherstone apartment complex parking lot.
Brooks and an unidentified man got into the car. The unidentified man pulled out what appeared to be a BB gun and demanded the man hand over the e-cigarettes.
When the victim only handed one of them, they demanded the other box. The man refused and they escalated to demanding the man's wallet, necklace and ring.
After he refused to hand them over, Brooks and the other man got out of the car, and Brooks shot the man twice in the leg.
The teen was charged as an adult because of the nature of the crime.
A year and a half later, his attorney and prosecutors worked out an agreement that would let him serve an eight year sentence in the state juvenile rehabilitation system.
Court documents said he stayed in the juvenile system until Jan. 22, 2024 when he walked away from the Canyon View Community facility in East Wenatchee.
The facility aims to transition juvenile offenders back into society by providing them treatment and training. People at the facility can participate in high school and community college programs.
"Opportunity for employment in the community is also offered," according to the state Department of Children, Youth and Families website.
Nancy Gutierrez with the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, said at the time when he walked away from the community facility, the department provided information and created posters with descriptions of Brooks, his clothing, and car.
"Our community facilities have different levels of security compared to our secure facilities because the goal of community facilities is to successfully transition young people back into the community," she said.
Kennewick break-in
Four months after he disappeared from East Wenatchee, he appeared in Kennewick, court documents said.
Brooks was part of a group of three men who walked into a Hildebrand Boulevard apartment just after midnight on April 27, according to court documents. The men had been previously told they weren't welcome in the apartment.
The three teenage women and girls living in the apartment were in the back when they heard Brooks and the other men come in. They told the men to leave, and the men reluctantly started to, but a 17-year-old girl pushed one of the men and he responded by punching her.
The men then pushed their way back into the apartment and refused to leave.
Brooks broke a glass on the floor, ripped a picture off of the wall and flipped the coffee table into the sliding glass door, court documents said.
As the men were leaving, Brooks shoved the 17-year-old, and then another of the women confronted him, he punched and pushed her. She fell and hit her head on the railing of the patio, court documents said.
Police caught up with Brooks about six days later on May 3. U.S. Marshals and Kennewick police found caught up to him hiding in the crawlspace of a home near West Seventh Avenue and Perry Street.
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