US teen who shot his parents reveals the trigger that made him snap

By Staff writer, News Corp Australia Network

US teen Nathon Brooks was just 14 when he was shot his parents at point-blank range - miraculously, they survived.

He was sentenced to 15-and-a-half years in prison for the crime and is serving his time in Green Hill juvenile detention centre, where some of America's most violent young criminals have been imprisoned.

In an interview with Nine's 60 Minutes, Brooks reveals the circumstances leading up to the heinous attack. Despite everything they have been through, the teen's parents have forgiven him.

Miraculously, Nathon's parents have forgiven him. Photo / 60 Minutes

On March 8, 2013, Brooks was caught on camera walking through the house with a gun before firing six bullets at Jon and Beth Brooks while they slept.

"All I really saw was a dark figure standing there," Jon said, recalling the night of the attack.

"I was shot in the face, so it just shattered this bone. The bullet went in through here, very closely missed the bone to the spine.

"I knew I was hurt bad because I kept losing sight. The blood kept coming so I had to keep wiping it away."

Brooks told 60 Minutes he remembered thinking "it would be much better if they weren't around to tell me what to do".

"And I pulled the trigger - bang, bang, bang, three times at my Mum," he said.

In a stunning interview with police after the attack, an officer quizzed Brooks on what he was thinking when he pulled the trigger.

He said: "What a gun does".

"Which is?" Replied the officer.

"Kill."

Brooks rejecting questions asking whether he had been physically abused. He said the trigger that prompted the attack was when his father told him he couldn't participate in a basketball tournament after getting detention at school.

"And I kind of just sat there being frustrated and looked at them and felt that these people were taking all my rights from me that I felt that I deserved," he told 60 Minutes.

He said he experienced a huge amount of remorse after firing the last shot.

Nathon and Beth Brooks embracing each other in prison. Photo / 60 Minutes

His parents spent weeks recovering from gunshot wounds to the head. Jon said he had come back "hundreds and hundreds of times" to "every decision we've ever made" trying to work out if they should have handled their son differently.

Brooks also claimed he experiences depression and was "really vulnerable" at the time of the attack.

"I have one of the most severe versions of depression. Depression affects people in different ways. There's your depressed people that sleep and your depressed people that are very irritable," he said.

"It was just one night and I was just really vulnerable. With everything for my brain to handle it was too much and I just snapped."

His parents say they have since forgiven Brooks, who said he looked forward to reconnecting with them as a free man.

"You don't forgive a child who has cerebral palsy, so why would I forgive my son for having a mental health condition?"

"His actions were wrong, they're unacceptable ... but I understand why."