10:19 AM EDT on Wednesday, October 26, 2005

As a trailer home burned, a next-door neighbor who never thought he’d be back in the spotlight again ran to help.

“We went around to the back window and broke the window out and the maintenance man lifted me up and I got one of the little children out and handed it off to the maintenance man,” says David “Bucky” Brooks.

Brooks is being described as a hero -- the same “Bucky” Brooks who, just a few years ago, was called a killer.

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In 2001, he was accused of killing 17-year-old Jessica Dishon back in 1999. The case against Brooks ended in a mistrial in 2003. The prosecutor later dropped charges against him. Dishon’s killer remains unknown to this day.

Brooks quietly retreated with his wife and children, far away from the glare of publicity – until Tuesday’s tragic fire.

“I was sitting, watching TV when I heard somebody scream. I thought it was either just a domestic or kids playing and I looked out and I saw smoke and I thought, well it’s unusual for somebody to be barbecuing now,” says Irene Brooks.

“I ain’t no hero, I just saved two lives, or tried to is all I done,” says “Bucky” Brooks.

Brooks is now an ordained minister. “We’re trying to make things better for everybody if we can.”