A 2020 search that reached Las Vegas led to a 2026 first-degree murder conviction.
REDLANDS, Calif. — The case against Eric Otto White began with gunfire at a Redlands home in 2020, widened into a fugitive search and ended nearly six years later with a first-degree murder conviction.
The timeline became a central part of the prosecution’s story. Police first responded to shots fired on Carlson Avenue. Prosecutors later charged White. Authorities arrested him in Las Vegas. Years later, jurors heard testimony about household conflict, mental health claims and a karaoke speaker before convicting him in the deaths of Kavina Madison Brooks, Kavona Kimberly Brooks-Lee and Kenneth Lee.
The first public account came after officers were called to the 900 block of Carlson Avenue around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 26, 2020. Police said two people had been killed and a third person was critically wounded. The dead were later identified in court records as Brooks and Lee. Brooks-Lee, Brooks’ twin sister and Lee’s wife, was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and later died after being placed on life support. The early police bulletin named White, then 57, as a Phoenix man wanted in the shooting. It said a $3 million arrest warrant had been issued and described a possible getaway vehicle as a silver or tan 2003 Nissan Altima with dark-tinted windows and Arizona plates. The bulletin turned a private family tragedy into a regional search.
Investigators built the case quickly. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office filed a complaint in September 2020, charging White with two counts of murder and one count of attempted willful, deliberate and premeditated murder. The complaint alleged that White used and intentionally discharged a handgun, causing great bodily injury and death. It named Brooks as the first murder victim, Lee as the second and Brooks-Lee as the attempted murder victim. It also alleged a prior serious or violent felony conviction from 1981. At that early stage, the record showed a case still shaped by Brooks-Lee’s hospitalization. After she died, the prosecution later proceeded on the deaths of all three victims.
White did not remain in Redlands after the shooting. Authorities said he fled California and was found several weeks later in Las Vegas by a fugitive apprehension team. Family members said he had gone back into the house after the shooting and changed clothing, the vehicle’s plates or the vehicle’s appearance. Prosecutors later treated his flight as evidence of consciousness of guilt. The defense disputed the meaning of his mental state, but the arrest closed the first phase of the case: the search for a suspect. White was held in Nevada before transfer to San Bernardino County, where the criminal case would move slowly through filings, hearings and trial preparation.
When trial testimony turned to motive, the case narrowed from a multistate search to arguments inside a home. Brooks’ daughter, Zanorra Brooks Killebrew, testified that White had been angry with Brooks over her parenting and became enraged after Brooks touched his karaoke speaker. She also said Brooks had told White the day before the shooting that he could move out and that she would replace him with someone else. Those details gave prosecutors a way to explain why the attack happened then. Deputy District Attorney Justin Crocker argued that White sensed he was losing control. In closing arguments, Crocker said White reached “the fork in the road” and chose murder, then fired repeatedly.
The last moments described in court were brief but loaded with warnings. Kavina Brooks told White, “Calm down!” after he pulled a gun. Kenneth Lee told him, “You’re threatening somebody’s life.” The words gave jurors a close view of the seconds before gunfire. Prosecutors said White used a handgun to kill the three adults in or near Brooks’ home. Brooks and Lee died at the scene. Brooks-Lee died later from her injuries. Brooks Killebrew survived and later gave testimony about what happened before and during the attack. Her account connected the 2020 police response with the 2026 courtroom record.
The defense trial strategy centered on mental illness and the legal line between first-degree and second-degree murder. White’s attorney, James Rankin Gass, argued that his client had serious psychiatric diagnoses that affected his ability to premeditate. Forensic and clinical psychologist John Matthew Fabian testified that White had schizoaffective disorder, with a history that included bipolar and depressive episodes. Fabian said White was not taking medication at the time of the shooting. Prosecutors did not treat those points as enough to reduce the charges. They pointed to the sequence of events, the alleged anger over Brooks’ independence and White’s flight after the killings as proof that he acted with intent.
On April 30, 2026, the jury convicted White of first-degree murder. The verdict did not end the case, but it answered the main question of guilt. It also changed the role of the courtroom. Before the verdict, jurors had been asked to decide what White did and what his intent was. After the verdict, the case shifted to punishment. Because the prosecution includes special circumstances tied to multiple murders, White is eligible for the death penalty. A jury is expected to make a sentencing recommendation, and Judge Cheryl Kersey will decide whether to adopt that recommendation or impose her own sentence within the law.
For the victims’ relatives, the long timeline is part of the wound. Brooks and Brooks-Lee were twin sisters. Lee was Brooks-Lee’s husband. The shooting wiped out three members of one family circle and left a child survivor to carry the account into court. Alicia Sutton, Brooks-Lee’s daughter, said after the verdict that it was “sad, but finally.” The phrase reflected the years between the 2020 shooting and the 2026 conviction. In that span, the case moved from police alerts and fugitive notices to expert testimony, closing arguments and a jury finding that White committed first-degree murder.
White remains before the court for sentencing. The next milestone will determine whether the Redlands case ends in a life sentence or capital punishment after a prosecution that began with a 1:30 a.m. call about shots fired.
Author note: Last updated May 25, 2026.