A Saginaw teen accused of gunning down a 21-year-old man during a marijuana deal gone wrong has been arraigned on open murder and felony firearm charges, nearly 19 months after the fatal shooting. Eric Martell Brooks Jr., now 17, was denied bond during his arraignment Wednesday before Saginaw County District Court Judge M. Randall Jurrens.
Court documents allege Brooks pulled out a gun and shot 21-year-old Torriano Joaquin Yrlas-Thomas after Yrlas-Thomas asked him for Apple Pay during what the two were engaged in — a deal to buy marijuana, according to WJRT ABC12. Brooks was 16 years old at the time of the shooting, which happened around 10:30 p.m. on February 28, 2025, in the 2400 block of Lowell Avenue on Saginaw's south side, per court records cited by the station.
Saginaw Police received a shots-fired call at 10:27 p.m. that night, followed two minutes later by a report of a vehicle crash at Lowell and Hess Streets, according to a timeline shared on Breaking News 989. Officers determined the two dispatch calls were linked to the same incident, finding Yrlas-Thomas inside a vehicle suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported by ambulance to a hospital and later died from his injuries.
Who Was Torriano Yrlas-Thomas
Yrlas-Thomas, a Saginaw resident, was pronounced dead at MyMichigan Medical Center on the night of the shooting. A 2021 graduate of Arthur Hill High School, he worked for FedEx and left behind a newborn daughter and fiancée, according to an obituary posted by Paradise Funeral Chapel.
Weeks before the arrest, Crime Stoppers of Saginaw County had put out a cash reward of up to $2,500 for anonymous tips leading to Brooks' arrest, per the same ABC12 report.
Why the Teen Faces Adult Charges
Because Brooks was 16 at the time of the shooting, Michigan's automatic waiver statute allows prosecutors to bypass family court and charge him directly in adult criminal court for specified juvenile violations such as murder, according to guidance from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The provision applies to 14- to 17-year-olds accused of major violent felonies without requiring a separate family court waiver hearing.
Michigan's open murder law also means prosecutors did not have to specify the degree of murder at charging. A public Q&A answered by a criminal-law lawyer on Justia says a jury at trial can choose between first-degree murder, which carries mandatory life imprisonment without parole, or second-degree murder, which carries up to life with parole eligibility.
A City Grappling With Violent Crime
Saginaw had recorded nine homicides so far in 2026, all of which the Saginaw Major Crimes Unit had identified suspects for by August, according to a post from Michigan State Police shared on Facebook/MLive.
That clearance record comes against a troubling backdrop. FBI crime statistics released in late 2025 ranked Saginaw among the top cities nationally for per-capita violent crime, recording 2.2 violent crimes per 100 residents and 944 total violent crimes in 2024, as reported by WCMU Public Media. The mayor has since called for partnerships with law enforcement and nonprofits.
Anti-violence organizations such as HELP Saginaw have pushed that same public-health framing, emphasizing youth education and intervention, while mothers of victims have publicly urged residents to break their silence around local shootings, WCMU reports. Community leaders have stressed multi-sector intervention as a way to prevent retaliation in cases like this one.
