Suspect’s mother noticed changes in his behavior

Son charged with cookout homicide

About a month before police say Brett Terry fatally shot a man at a Mother’s Day cookout, his behavior abruptly changed and he began complaining about demons, according to his mother.

Now, the Lincoln-Lemington teenager is being treated at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in advance of his arraignment on charges of homicide and other crimes in the May 10 death of Jamar Thomas.

“He was so confused, he didn’t even know who he had shot,” his mother, Sheronda Terry, said last week, after she had visited her son in the hospital.

Mr. Terry had a bright future, according to some who knew him. He graduated from Pittsburgh Allderdice High School last year and enrolled at Clarion University, following in the steps of his brothers. Mr. Terry was focusing on sports medicine, according to a school spokeswoman.

A search of criminal records showed one prior case for him — an attempted retail theft charge that the Clarion County district attorney’s office decided not to prosecute.

“I thought that [lack of a criminal record] was so good for the area [he] lived in,” Ms. Terry said.

She remembers vividly the day something changed in her son. It was April 15, and he was “acting really weird.” He spoke of demons and was paranoid about many people, including his family members.

“He knew something was wrong,” Ms. Terry said.

She said she took her son to Western Psych and a doctor gave him some medicine. She said she did not remember the precise name of his diagnosis. They went to one follow-up appointment, she said, and had others scheduled.

“He was just weirded out before this happened,” Ms. Terry said. “That was not my son who did that.”

The Terry family and Thomas’ family are “intertwined,” Ms. Terry said. Mr. Thomas was the brother of Mr. Terry’s cousin’s girlfriend. The day of the shooting was the first day they met, witnesses told police.

The pair “exchanged words,”

according to a criminal complaint, and then Mr. Terry left to get a gun, came back and shot Mr. Thomas multiple times.

An officer was patrolling in the area when a gunshot went off, and she encountered Mr. Terry, who “admitted to the homicide,” according to court documents.

Ms. Terry was in Florida, looking at places where she might move, when her niece called her from the cookout. “She’s screaming and hollering on the phone, ‘You’ve got to come home. You’ve got to come home. Brett just killed somebody.’ ”

In the days and weeks that followed, she hired an attorney for her son, fielded calls from friends and relatives and visited her son in the psychiatric hospital.

“He’s pretty much still in shock,” Ms. Terry said, noting that her son initially thought he had shot his brother and asked to see him to prove that he hadn’t. “You can’t really talk to him about that situation, like he scrunches like he can’t deal with it or something at this point.”

Mr. Terry receives weekly evaluations and the last report “was that he’s not doing very well,” Ms. Terry said.

How his mental health status will affect his case is unclear. A spokesman for the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office said he could not comment on it.

Ms. Terry visited her son last week. “I just sat here and patted his back until he went to sleep because he used to like that when he was little. Sure enough, he went to sleep just like he used to,” she said.

“I’m just happy that he’s alive and I’m so sorry about the deceased. I’m just praying for their family and ours … hoping that he gets the help that he needs and doesn’t get thrown in a jail cell.”