Brandon Joyce: Alleged Drug Deal at Bass Pro Shop Ends in Murder of Former Rams Recruit

Congratulations twin brothers Cory and Tory Brooks. At the tender age of 21 you've just ascended the ranks of gangster hierarchy with allegations that you callously robbed and murdered a man during an alleged drug buy. And you did it on Christmas Eve, no less! What could be more horrific?! You must be incredibly pleased with yourselves.

Still, we've got to knock you some style points. What kind of urban street thugs arrange for a drug deal at the suburban parking lot of a Bass Pro Shop? Gee whiz, guys. We hope you at least picked yourselves up some clearance-item duck books while you were there. They were quite a steal.

Oh, and speaking of steals, that's what St. Charles police say you were attempting to do December 24 when you met Brandon Joyce on the parking lot that cold, wintry night.

A 26-year-old football player who made the St. Louis Rams off-season roster this year before being cut in April, Joyce was allegedly trying to purchase drugs from the twin brothers and two other accomplices in 21-year-old Deveon Shockley and a fourth suspect still on the run.

But the suspects had other ideas. They planned to rob Joyce. According to reports, Cory Brooks and the fourth suspect hopped in Jacobs vehicle and went with him to an ATM. They then drove to the Bass Pro Shop where the transaction was to occur. Instead, someone shot Joyce in the head with a large-caliber revolver. He died yesterday morning.

Joyce's family and friends refuse to believe that he was involved in a drug deal. Deveon Shockley and the Brooks brothers, meanwhile, have each been charged with second-degree murder, robbery and armed-criminal action and remain in custody in lieu of a $1 million, cash-only bail.

Court records show that Cory Jermaine Brooks pleaded guilty in 2009 to burglary and felony theft. His brother, Tory Tremaine Brooks, has a longer rap sheet, pleading guilty over the past three years to such crimes as tampering with a motor vehicle, forgery, burglary and felony theft, according to court records.