Brooks Douglass, the survivor of a 1979 Okarche home invasion that took the lives of his parents and left him and his sister wounded, who then became a state senator at age 27, has died.
Douglass, 56, died at his home in Dallas, Texas Saturday, May 9 of cancer, according to reports.
On Oct 15, 1979, The Rev. Richard Douglass, pastor of Putnam City Baptist Church, and his family, wife, Marilyn Sue, son Brooks and daughter Leslie, were home in Okarche when intruders killed Rev. Douglass and Marilyn.
Brooks and Leslie were both shot but survived.
The story was told in the film, “Heaven’s Rain.”
In 1990, at age 27, Brooks Douglass ran as a Republican and was elected as the youngest state senator to serve in Oklahoma at the time.
He is remembered for his 1992 crime victims rights bill.
He served from 1991-2003 representing Senate District 40. He also ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House 6th District in a 1994 special election. While he placed first in the primary, he lost to eventual victor Frank Lucas in the runoff.
Brooks Douglass would later forgive his parents’ killers, two drifters, Glen Ake and Steven Hatch.
