A man was sentenced Monday to life plus 35 years in prison for fatally shooting a woman in front of her children in a Southeast Baltimore deli in 2019.

“It would be impossible to script a more heartbreaking, tragic set of facts than those in the murder of Carmen Rodriguez,” said Baltimore Circuit Judge Jennifer Schiffer, describing Rodriguez, 36, as a beautiful, hard-working mother of four. “The Rodriguez children watched their mother get gunned down in front of them three days before Christmas.”

Schiffer handed down the maximum sentence to Martin Brooks, 42, for the charges a jury found him guilty of in February: first-degree felony murder, second-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon and a pair of firearms offenses.

Brooks burst into Kim’s Deli in Patterson Park, masked, gloved and armed, according to security camera footage played during his trial. He rushed the counter where Rodriguez was working the register. With her young children playing nearby, Rodriguez quickly handed over cash and put her hands up. Brooks shot her in the head and fled.

Prosecutors say he robbed the store because he needed money to bail his girlfriend out of jail.

“He shot and killed Carmen Rodriguez ... even though he already had the money,” Assistant State’s Attorney Rita Wisthoff-Ito said Monday.

At the time, Brooks was on probation for an armed robbery involving a gun. While incarcerated and pending trial, he was charged with assaulting a correctional employee and a fourth-degree sex offense.

Another man charged in Rodriguez’s killing, Terrence Peterson, was found incompetent to stand trial in October 2021. People found incompetent to stand trial — meaning doctors determined that a mental disorder prevents them from assisting in their own defense or understanding the legal proceedings — are reevaluated annually.

Brooks chose not to speak at the sentencing hearing Monday on the advice of his attorney, Leslie Stein, who said little in court and declined to comment after.

The defendant’s silence in court left Rodriguez’s relatives without an explanation to the question they wanted answered most: Why did Brooks shoot her?

Several relatives said as much in victim impact statements Monday. The family members spoke in Spanish, with an interpreter translating their comments in real time.

Relatives said they will carry the pain of her death with them forever, recalling Rodriguez, the youngest of several siblings, as the joy of the family. They described her as a dedicated mother who was protective of her children, saying she preferred to bring them to work with her than leave them under the care of a babysitter.

Wisthoff-Ito said Rodriguez was able to push one of her young children to safety before she was shot dead.

Rodriguez’s relatives asked Schiffer to make Brooks explain himself.

“To the family of Carmen Rodriguez, I can only offer my sincere apology that I cannot tell you why ... I cannot tell you why the defendant pulled the trigger,” the judge said. “I wish I had the power to change your suffering.”

Schiffer presided over Brooks’ weeklong trial, where prosecutors laid out the complicated investigation that law enforcement conducted to bring charges against him and Peterson. From the security camera footage inside the store to CitiWatch cameras nearby, investigators were able to identify a car that was believed to be involved in the shooting.

A flier from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms asking for information yielded an anonymous tip directing investigators to a social media account, which they traced to phone numbers. An FBI analysis of Brooks’ cell phone data showed that he was approximately a block away from Kim’s Deli minutes before the shooting.

In a statement following the sentencing hearing, law enforcement officials said Rodriguez’s absence is palpable in Baltimore, particularly in her community near Patterson Park, and that Brooks’ punishment underscored their commitment to targeting violent individuals.

State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said he hoped the sentence would provide some closure, while acknowledging “no outcome of this case can restore what her family and friends lost.”

“If you are willing to take innocent lives, you will lose your freedom and ability to walk Baltimore’s streets,” Bates said.

ATF Baltimore Assistant Special Agent in Charge Joseph Persails said his office would continue to go after “trigger-pullers that threaten the safety of Baltimore communities.”

“Ms. Rodriguez’s children should be celebrating the Fourth of July with their mother tomorrow,” Persails said. “They should be spending every day being loved and cared for by her.”