Court records offer few details on charges so far, but suspect was part of 2021 family feud—Brooks, shooter, died in wreck on 69 Jan. 12, one of three hitmen may plead
There have been a number of recent developments in a story that made 2021 one of the most violent years in recent history for Perry and Hale counties. A family feud that escalated from a convenience store shootout in Marion crisscrossed the two counties and left a trail of people dead and injured.
Ja’Quan D. Brooks, 24, died Jan. 12 in a multi-vehicle crash in Hale County.
It was Brooks who shot and killed 17-year-old Kendrell Foster at Snack Time Foods in Marion. Authorities determined the shooting to have been in self defense, citing security footage that showed Foster pull out his gun and start shooting at Brooks.
That shooting sparked a wave of violence over the coming months, when a group three men whom authorities described as “hitmen” came to Marion, apparently to extract revenge.
The three men are charged with a laundry list of crimes, perhaps the most notable being the assassination- style murder of 71- year-old Henry Lee Sanders, a retiree who worked part-time as the custodian of Siloam Baptist Church. Sanders was leaving work, after preparing the sanctuary for Easter services, when he was gunned down in the church parking lot.
One of the alleged shooters, Lawrence Johnson, is set for a settlement hearing, possibly indicating a planned plea of guilty, for today, Thursday, Jan. 25.
Court records indicate Johnson, 38, is from Hoover. He faces charges including two counts of attempted murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
One of Johnson’s co-defendants, Gerald Lee Hogue, is set to stand trial on Feb. 26. Hogue, 63, of Florissant, Missouri, is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of discharging a gun into an occupied building, two counts of discharging a gun into an unoccupied building, two counts of receiving stolen property, one count of second- degree possession of marijuana, and one count of certain persons forbidden in possession of a firearm. Hogue is set for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 13.
Christhoper Roberts, 40, of St. Louis, Missouri also faces two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of attempted murder, three counts of discharging a gun into an occupied building, two counts of discharging a gun into an unoccupied building, two counts of receiving stolen property, one count of second- degree possession of marijuana, and one count of certain persons forbidden in possession of a firearm. He has a pretrial hearing set for March 27 and a pretrial hearing set for May 1.
Another figure in the violence has been indicted and charged with capital murder in Hale County. Joshua Sanders, 44, of Marion, was arrested Jan. 10 on the charges following an indictment on Nov. 30 of last year, according to court records.
Sanders was involved in a car chase that ended in a crash in Hale County in March of 2021, after a group of individuals were shot at in Marion in what was believed to have been an act of revenge for Foster’s death. Following that shooting, Sanders and other family members apparently pursued the shooters in another vehicle, returning fire as they sped west on Highway 14 towards Greensboro. The chase ended in Hale County, with Sanders being airlifted to Birmingham due to his injuries, according to authorities at the time.
