Inset: Eric Otto White (San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department). Background: Twin sisters Kavona Brooks-Lee and Kavina Brooks, who were shot and killed by Kavina's boyfriend Eric Otto White (Facebook/GoFundMe).
A California man was convicted of murder last week for shooting his girlfriend dead, along with her twin sister and brother-in-law, while fuming over his prized karaoke speaker being touched and the girlfriend's "lenient" parenting.
"Calm down!" Kavina Brooks shouted at her boyfriend, Eric Otto White, after he pulled a gun on her and her sister, Kavona Brooks-Lee, as well as her brother-in-law, Kenneth Lee, according to trial testimony reported by The Press-Enterprise.
"You're threatening somebody's life," Lee told White right before the August 2020 shooting. White was found guilty of first-degree murder on April 30 in San Bernardino County.
"When he gets to the fork in the road, he decides to go toward murder," said Deputy District Attorney Justin Crocker during closing arguments on April 29, the Press-Enterprise reports. "Once that decision is made, it became shot after shot after shot after shot," Crocker recounted, while clapping his hands to mimic gunfire.
Prosecutors said in the criminal complaint that White used a handgun to kill the trio at Brooks' home in Redlands. Brooks and Lee were both pronounced dead at the scene, while Kavona Brooks-Lee died after being hospitalized and placed on life support.
Brooks' daughter, who was 14 at the time of the attack and with her mom when it unfolded, testified that White was mad at Brooks and disapproved of her "lenient" parenting. He went berserk after Brooks touched his beloved karaoke speaker, according to the daughter.
On top of that, Brooks had asked White to move out and find "someone else" just one day before the shooting, her daughter added.
"All three were brutally shot," a GoFundMe says for the family.
The sisters' aunt wrote on Facebook after the shooting that White "also made an attempt on the life of Kavina's 13yr old daughter who hid immediately." Police said White went on the run after the attack.
"He was bold enough to go back into the house since the shooting, changed the vehicle license plates and the appearance of the vehicle," the aunt said.
White flew to Las Vegas and was arrested several weeks later. He was allegedly diagnosed by a forensic and clinical psychologist with schizoaffective disorder and has a history of bipolar and depressive episodes, local CW affiliate KTLA reports.
Prosecutors argued during White's trial that the shooting "stemmed from White sensing a loss of control." He is eligible for the death penalty due to a special-circumstances allegation of multiple first-degree murders.
White's sentencing has not been set yet.