Ottawa County Prosecutor Ronald Frantz said Troy Brake beat to death 18-year-old Katherine Brown and shot brothers 20-year-old Jeremy

Ottawa County Prosecutor Ronald Frantz said Troy Brake beat to death 18-year-old Katherine Brown and shot brothers 20-year-old Jeremy and 17-year-old Tyler Zimmer, and their mother, 53-year-old Sharmaine Zimmer, before setting the Zimmers' home on fire.Brake was arrested in October for a pair of assaults in Grand Rapids when Knapp, an Ottawa County sheriff's investigator, questioned him about his whereabouts on Sept. 29.Knapp said Brake then asked if the interrogation was related to the Zimmers, because Brake said he used to live next door to the family and, at one point, lived with them."He indicated that he got along well with the Zimmers and that Sharmaine and Robert Zimmer were better parents than his own," Knapp said.
On Monday, Brake paid close attention to the testimony of police investigators, but showed little emotion.His attorney, Paul McDonagh, objected unsuccessfully to Knapp's testimony, saying Brake had talked to police without an attorney present. McDonagh questioned Knapp several times about whether Brake had tried to leave, or had requested an attorney, even as police continued to question his client.Knapp said Brake got up several times to leave, but returned of his own volition and when he asked for an attorney, Knapp told Brake he was free to leave."He had his hand on the door once, but he kept asking us questions," Knapp said.McDonagh also questioned earlier testimony from Michigan State Police Detective Jeffrey Crump, a certified firearms expert. Crump said shell casings found at the Zimmer home were fired from the .40-caliber Glock found at Brake's Grant home.Crump said a match was able to be made even though the gun's firing mechanism had been altered between the time the five shells were spent at the Zimmer home and the time the gun was taken by police from Brake's home.Brake is scheduled for a Dec. 29 Ottawa County Circuit Court arraignment, but that likely will be waived, which is common in such cases.Brake also is scheduled for a pretrial status conference Thursday in Kent County Circuit Court on charges of assault with intent to murder, first-degree criminal sexual conduct and weapons charges. Those charges stem from assaults in Grand Rapids last fall