The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office filed the charge Wednesday against 27-year-old Demetric Brooks.
Brooks was arrested on March 22 after Arlington police said he fired a gun through his apartment door, shooting firefighter Brady Weaver in the chest. Weaver was trying to breach the door after no one answered repeated knocks by officers during a welfare check call, police have said.
Arlington police, firefighters and medics responded to the Bardin Green Apartments at around 12:45 a.m. that day to conduct the welfare check. A resident called 911 and reported hearing children in a neighboring apartment crying and asking for their mother to wake up, police said.
Officers repeatedly knocked on the door and announced their presence, according to police. After hearing children’s voices coming from inside the apartment, calling for their mother to wake up, first responders began to break the door open “concerned that someone inside the apartment could be injured or in need of emergency medical attention,” police said in a news release.
A short time later, a single shot was fired from inside the apartment through the door, hitting Weaver, according to police. He was taken to Medical City Arlington hospital, where he was in critical condition but in “good spirits,” police said.
No additional shots were fired and no one else was injured, according to authorities.
Brooks, a woman, and two children came out of the apartment after officers gave commands for everyone in the apartment to come outside. Brooks, believed to be the shooter, was arrested and questioned by detectives.
According to police, Brooks told investigators that he and his girlfriend were asleep and awoke to the sound of firefighters trying to breach the door. Brooks told police he fired his gun and then told his girlfriend to call 911, thinking that someone was trying to break in. Police confirmed the woman did call 911 after the shot was fired.
Weaver was released from the hospital on March 29 as he continues his recovery, the Arlington Professional Fire Fighters association said in a news release.