Woman charged after reportedly pointing rifle at vehicle with ex-husband, kids inside

Brooke Collins, 26, of Gainesville, has been charged with first-degree domestic assault, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon (exhibiting) in connection with an April 8 incident in which she reportedly pointed a .22-caliber rifle at her ex-husband, whose car was in front of hers, while she was on meth, using alcohol and marijuana. 

The domestic assault charge is a class B felony, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. 

According to the probable cause statement filed in the case by Ozark County Sgt. Justin Brown, the officer spoke with a man at 10 a.m. April 8. 

The man said the incident occurred after he’d left the Top Dog Fitness Center in Gainesville with his mother and children. While he was stopped at a stop sign at Third Street and Highway 5, he noticed his ex-wife, Collins, pull up behind their vehicle in a black car. The man said he looked into his rear view mirror and saw Collins pointing her fingers at him in the shape of a gun. When he turned around and looked back at the vehicle, he said Collins pulled a silver-barreled rifle up and pointed it in his direction. 

The man said he turned south onto Highway 5 and drove straight to the sheriff’s office in fear of being shot, and Collins reportedly turned north on Highway 5. 

At 1:30 p.m. the officer went to Collins’s residence off County Road 800 off Highway 5 north of Gainesville. As the officer was approaching the door of the residence, Collins pulled into the drive in a black Hyundai Santa Fe. Brown asked Collins to step out of the vehicle, and she complied. He placed her in handcuffs and advised her she was under arrest. 

Brown asked Collins if there was a firearm in the vehicle, and she reportedly told the officer that there was a gun in the car. Brown asked if he could look in the vehicle to see if it was one that had been used in the commission of a crime, and she reportedly told him, “No. You are going to have to get a search warrant.”

The officer took Collins to the Ozark County Jail for processing. During the booking process Collins reportedly admitted to having alcohol, methamphetamine and marijuana in her system. She was asked to take a urine test, and she said she would, but at the time Brown wrote the report she had been unable to provide a sample. 

When Collins was dressing out into inmate clothing, the jailer asked the woman what was in her pocket. Collins reportedly told the jailer “…just these bullets I was going to use.” She then handed the jail forty .22-caliber bullets.

A child protective order was issued against her on April 5 in reference to the couple’s three children. The victim in the case has physical custody of the children, the report says.