Felon who punched female Corona High School basketball players pleaded not guilty

A convicted felon accused of punching female athletes during a Corona High School basketball game and later threatening the lives of other students with a gun pleaded not guilty Friday to multiple felony and misdemeanor offenses.

At a Jan. 24 Centennial High School girls basketball game, where the Huskies were taking on the Santiago High School Sharks, Thaddis Lamont Brooks, 39, of Perris reacted to a fight that erupted between two players. He jumped out of his seat and punched several female athletes before being restrained according to police. Brooks then is accused of walking to the parking lot to get a gun from his car.

According to Corona police Sgt. Jason Waldon "The suspect walked to the parking lot and retrieved a handgun from his vehicle. While in the parking lot, the suspect pointed the handgun at several students and threatened to shoot them," said Waldon. "The suspect fled the area just before officers arrived at the school."

Brooks was arrested earlier this month and is charged with six counts of making criminal threats of death or great bodily injury, four counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, three counts of battery, two counts of brandishing a gun and one count each of possession of a firearm on school grounds, witness intimidation and being a felon in possession of a gun, with sentence-enhancing allegations of using a firearm in the commission of a felony.

Brooks, who is acting as his own attorney, is being held on $1 million bail.

According to court records, Brooks has several convictions in another jurisdiction for which he served time in state prison, though the offenses weren't listed.