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Betsy Mills and Ron Brothers. The Death and Cemetery Records of Lamar County, Texas, ReBroMa Press, 2008, http://www.lamarcountytx.org/cemetery. (12/17/2025)

THE PARIS NEWS, Thursday, April 25, 1973, p.1: 'Clarksville-- Jimmy Brooks, 25-year-old Paris police officer died Wednesday as the result of an accidental gunshot wound in the head, according to Paris Police Chief Loyd Mathews. Reports of the incident stated that Brooks and another officer, Bill Booker, both off duty, were headed toward Clarksville about 2:15 p.m. Booker's wife and child were also in the auto. Mathews said that Brooks and Booker were talking about a gun that Booker had recently purchased. Brooks was handling the gun - a .38 colt semi-automatic - when it discharged. The bullet struck Brooks in the mouth and exited through the back of the head. The bullet hit the head rest and was found in the floor of the auto. The ejected shell was also located on the floor, Mathews said. Booker reported that when he realized what had happened, he headed for the hospital in Clarksville, where Brooks was pronounced dead on arrival. He said they were on the western edge of Clarksville when the shooting occurred. Brooks had been with the Paris Police Department since March of 1972. The ruling of death by accidental gunshot wound was returned by Justice of the Peace Bill McDonough following an investigation by Clarksville authorities, aided by Paris Police officials. Funeral services for Jimmy Laurence Brooks will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday in Leverett and Steele Memorial Chapel. Interment will be in Meadowbrook Cemetery. Brooks was born Dec. 17, 1947, in Paris, son of Eugene and Letha Mariam (Nesbitt) Brooks. He married the former Miss Gay Lynn Holmes on April 6, 1970. He was a member of North Paris Baptist Church and graduated second in his class from the East Texas Police Academy at Kilgore Junior College. He had served in the U. S. Army. Survivors include his wife; his mother, Mrs. Letha Jones of Paris; a son, Clifton Laurence Brooks of Paris; three daughters, Cynthia Denine Brooks, Michelle Renee Brooks and LaJena Kay Brooks, all of Paris; three brothers, Billy Brooks and Jack Sawyers, both of Dallas, and Chester Sawyers of Paris; four sisters, Miss Sandra Sawyers, Mrs. Katherine Currey and Mrs. Reggie Hodges, all of Paris and Mrs. Letha Ann Turk of Dallas.'