Two charged with murder of 13-year-old girl plead not guilty

Greg Jordan, Bluefield Daily Telegraph, W.Va.
·2 min read

Jun. 28—PRINCETON — Hearing dates and a trial date were scheduled Monday after two women pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in a shooting which took a 13-year-old girl's life.

Nichole Brooks, 43, and her daughter Isis Wallace, 22, both of Bluefield, were brought before Circuit Court Judge William Sadler for docket day. Both women pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the March 23 shooting in Bluefield which claimed the life of a 13-year-old girl.

Brooks and Wallace have been indicted by the Mercer County Grand Jury on charges including first-degree murder, use of a firearm during the commission of a felony and conspiracy. They are being held at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver.

A search started March 23 for Brooks and Wallace after a shooting was reported at the intersection of Route 460 and Cumberland Road in Bluefield. Shots were fired from one car into another, striking a 13-year-old girl in the head. She later passed away at a Charleston hospital.

The shooting happened after a verbal altercation between Wallace and her ex-boyfriend outside the Memorial Avenue home where Wallace and Brooks resided, Detective-Lieutenant K.L. Adams with Bluefield Police Department said later. The ex-boyfriend was arrested, charged with domestic battery and posted bond after his sister, who was accompanied by her 13-year-old daughter, came from North Carolina to get him.

That evening, the ex-boyfriend returned to the Memorial Avenue home with his sister and her daughter to collect his belongings, Adams said during a preliminary hearing. Another argument occurred, and a video from a neighbor's home security camera indicted that a shot was fired at the car as it drove away. Brooks and Wallace then left in an SUV, and more security videos shot from businesses showed the SUV following the car carrying the ex-boyfriend. A video then showed a shot being fired at the Route 460 and Cumberland Road intersection.

Brooks and Wallace were later apprehended in Delaware with help from the U.S. Marshals Service and transported back to West Virginia. A trial before Circuit Court Judge Derek Swope has been scheduled for September.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com