A jury in Fort Wayne convicted 55-year-old Reginald Brooks of murder with a firearm sentencing enhancement after a four-day trial, finding him responsible for fatally shooting his girlfriend, Sajdah Abdur Rabb, during an argument at a mobile home off Dunkelberg Road. Brooks told police he had barely touched the trigger before the gun fired amid a struggle over the weapon, but jurors rejected that account and returned a guilty verdict.
According to WANE, the shooting followed a drunken argument during which court documents say Brooks threatened to kill Abdur Rabb and her son. Brooks reached for a gun during the confrontation, and as Abdur Rabb tried to gain control of it, the weapon fired and struck her, according to the seed report from WKRC. Brooks was 53 years old when he was originally charged, per an earlier report from the Journal Gazette, though WANE's coverage of the verdict lists his age as 55.
911 Hang-Up Call Led Police to the Scene
Police found Abdur Rabb suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso after responding to a 911 hang-up call at the residence on Jan. 30, according to the same Journal Gazette report. She was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Allen County coroner ruled her death a homicide caused by the gunshot wound.
A teenage witness told investigators that Brooks was armed and threatened to kill him and his mother during the argument, the Journal Gazette reported. Brooks had already served time for a felony in 2003, per the same account. Police arrested him at the scene, and he was later charged in Abdur Rabb's death.
Sentencing Set for Next Month
Brooks is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 30 and faces up to 85 years in prison, WANE reported. The verdict came after a four-day trial that ended with the jury finding him guilty of murder along with the firearm enhancement.
Abdur Rabb was the mother of nine children, the youngest of whom was 11, and a GoFundMe organized for her family described their reaction to her death as complete shock; that fundraiser is no longer active. Her death marked the fifth homicide recorded in Allen County that year, according to the Journal Gazette.
A Pattern Seen Nationwide
Abdur Rabb's killing reflects a broader and troubling pattern documented nationally. More than 850 American women are shot to death by intimate partners each year, according to Giffords Law Center, and firearms are used in more than three-fifths of all intimate partner homicides in the United States. The organization also notes that domestic violence assaults involving a gun are twelve times more likely to end in death than those involving other weapons, and that an abusive partner's access to a firearm is linked to a fivefold greater risk that a victim will be killed.
