Witnesses, video detail shooting
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 13, 2017 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Reneé Thompson, the mother of murder victim Shanekqua Thompson, leans forward to watch a surveillance video of the van her daughter was in when it was chased and gunned down in October of 2014 during the trial for Alquan Hill, one of the men accused of the murder Wednesday.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Cequon Phillips is sworn in Wednesday before testifying. Phillips was riding in the back seat of the Honda being driven by Alquan Hill.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Assistant District Attorney Davis Weddle plays a video to be considered for substantial evidence during the trial.
Witnesses in the first-degree murder trial of Alquan Hill recounted previously undisclosed details of the October 2014 killing of Shanekqua Adriana Thompson as testimony got underway Wednesday in Wayne County Superior Court.
Thompson, the 21-year-old mother of three, died while trying to crawl to the back of the van she was riding in to escape the more than 30 rounds of gunfire.
But she could not get the door open.
The testimony of several witnesses -- one of whom was inside the van during the shooting -- along with video evidence offered a glimpse into the events which led to Thompson's death.
The video, taken from home security cameras which captured the murder on Humphrey Street as it happened, filled in much of the detail.
Goldsboro Police Department investigators pulled the footage from a house at 901 Sixth St. The resident at the time of the crime has since died.
Despite motions from the defense, the video was allowed into evidence by the court.
Assistant District Attorney Davis Weddle showed video from three different angles that showed the van speeding down Sixth Street as a Ford Expedition and Honda Accord gave chase. Men hung out the side of the Ford Expedition, firing toward the van.
The Honda Accord followed closely behind, driven by Hill, according to witness testimony.
Video showed the van sliding and losing control as it tried to turn left on Humphrey Street and crashing into the trees.
The Ford Expedition and its occupants turned left onto Humphrey Street, continuing to shoot.
The Honda Accord turned right onto Humphrey Street, slowing down as its occupants fired several shots at the van.
Video showed the Ford stopping after it turned, and men inside getting out and continuing to shoot at the van as they walked toward it before getting back in and driving away from the scene.
Deonte Morrison, 22, a passenger in the van, was shot three times during the incident. He testified that he was living in Dudley and came to Goldsboro Oct. 30, 2014, to go to his baby's mother's house in Alpha Arms.
He went to the strip club across the street and when ready to leave the club he decided to catch a ride rather than walk.
He said he was going to ride with his cousin, who was also at the club that night, but there was no room, so his cousin told him to ride with Quentin Jackson, Robert Cole and Thompson.
Morrison testified that Jackson was driving the van, Cole was in the front passenger seat, Thompson was in the back seat on the driver's side, and Morrison was in the back seat on the passenger side.
He told the court the four then went to McDonald's on Wayne Memorial Drive to get food.
Morrison said he sat in the van while Cole, Jackson and Thompson went inside for about 15 to 20 minutes.
While he was waiting in the van, he said he noticed a Honda Accord with four men inside pull into the parking lot and back in.
When Cole, Jackson and Thompson got back in the van, he said he told them to watch the car because nobody got out of it while they were inside.
He said the Honda Accord followed them out of the parking lot, and the driver got on the phone.
They drove and turned onto Sixth Street, and then he said a Ford Expedition "came out of nowhere" and had its bright headlights on and began shooting at the van.
Morrison testified that the van sped down the dirt road to try and get away from the Expedition before crashing into the trees.
He said Cole and Jackson got out of the van when the shooting stopped and ran off, and he knew he had been shot.
Morrison said he had a "warm feeling" coursing through his whole body, and he checked around the van, thought he was the only one left inside and got out and began running toward Jackson's apartment complex nearby.
He said he went into the apartment, tied off the wound to his leg and called his grandmother to take him to the hospital.
Morrison was taken to Sampson Regional Medical Center in Clinton, near where his mother lives.
He said he did this because he was scared and not thinking straight and wanted to be close to his mother.
Tyrell Clemons, Hill's defense attorney, grilled Morrison on why he did not simply walk back to Alpha Arms and got in the van instead.
Clemons repeatedly asked him to confirm that he caught a ride instead of walking back, asking questions about the sequence of events, but never asking him directly why he did not walk home.
During an evidentiary hearing earlier in the day, when the court was deciding whether or not to allow the video footage to be viewed by the jury, Cequon Aredale Phillips testified with the jury out of the courtroom.
Phillips, one of five men charged in the killing in addition to Hill, told a story very similar in detail to Morrison's version of events.
Phillips has pleaded guilty already to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder, and will be sentenced at a later date.
Phillips testified that Anthony Graham, Joshua Collins, Davine Carr and a man known only as "Spazz" were in the Ford Expedition.
Collins has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and discharging a firearm into occupied property in conveyance and operation.
Phillips testified that himself, his brother, Rahmel Phillips, Alquan Hill and a man known only as "First 48" -- named after the television show about homicide investigations -- were in the Honda Accord.
Phillips testified Hill was the driver of the Accord. Phillips said he was a passenger and watched the events unfold, but did not participate in the shooting.
Phillips' testimony puts eight men as being involved in Thompson's killing, not six. Officials have previously said Hill was part of the "Kinston Six," which consisted of each of the defendants and excluded "Spazz" and "First 48." During the testimony, a man later identified as James Hooks had his cell phone seized and he was banned from the courtroom. A call to the courthouse alerted officials that Hooks was allegedly broadcasting Phillips' testimony via FaceBook Live.
Hooks has not yet been charged with a crime.
Thompson's mother, Reneé Thompson, watched the video of the shooting that killed her daughter, and also saw photos of her daughter's body and face as she was found at the crime scene.
Mrs. Thompon left the courtroom greif-stricken and in tears.
Court reconvenes today at 9:30 a.m.