Another suspect from Mount Lemmon homicide pleads guilty

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - One of the four suspects in a homicide at Rose Canyon Lake last year had reached a plea deal in the case.

On Friday, Sept. 13, Christopher Ellis pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping in the death of Malik Brooks. Ellis will be sentenced on Oct. 22 and could face up to 3-15 years in prison.

Brooks was found dead on Mount Lemmon in the Tucson area on April 2, 2023.

The other three suspects are Quinton Lucas Holt, Dereck Devon Alphonso Ashe, and Muhidin Omari Kassim.

Holt pleaded to second-degree murder last month and will be sentenced on Oct. 1.

Kassim is set to go to trial in November while Ashe’s trial is set for January 2025.

CBS 4 in El Paso talked with Demetra Holland, Brooks’ mother about his death.

Holland said Brooks was lured to Tuscon on a promise he was going to perform at a rap concert, something confirmed by court documents.

“They ripped my best friend right out of my arms, now I don’t have him,” Holland said.

Holland told CBS 4 she pleaded with her son to not go to Arizona.

“I didn’t want him to leave, I kept telling him ‘please don’t leave, don’t leave, just like it doesn’t seem right for you to leave by yourself,’ he never left by himself,” she said.

Brooks was on the phone with his mother five minutes before he was killed. During that call, his mother said Brooks told her that he felt he was going to get shot in the head.

She said the phone call ended and her son texted her one final time.

“He told me ‘Mom I love you, and I’m a G’ and that’s the last thing I heard from my son,” Holland said.

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