Testimony is expected to continue today in the murder trial of Ranzino Ahmad Harris, who is charged with the 2010 shooting death of Justin Murray.
During opening arguments Tuesday, Harris’ attorney Mark Cliett said he intended to prove Harris shot Murray in self-defense. The shooting occurred just after 9 a.m. on May 17, 2010, when Harris allegedly shot Murray once in the chest at point-blank range and once in the back of the head. Murray’s friend Michael Brewer was also shot during the incident and suffered an injury to his middle finger.
The state’s first witness was Terecia Lee, a longtime friend of Harris’. Lee testified that Harris had been engaged in an “on-again, off-again” relationship with her younger sister, Ashley Hill, but the two had broken up several weeks before the shooting. Lee said the night before the shooting, Murray and Brewer had spent the night at her home with she, Hill and Lee’s four young children.
Harris showed up at the home the next morning and got into a physical altercation with Hill, putting his hands around her neck and choking her, Lee said. She testified that Murray got in between Hill and Lee, saying, “You don’t hit a woman like that.” Murray and Harris then briefly tussled in the bedroom with Brewer coming to the defense of Harris. Lee testified that the fight lasted “about a minute” and Harris left the home.
Lee then said she, Murray and Brewer were in the living room along with her 9-year-old son when she saw Harris “pacing” outside in the front yard. When she opened the door, Lee said she saw a gun in Harris’ hand and told him “Don’t do it, it’s not worth it.”
“Normally he listens but this time he didn’t,” she said.
Lee testified Harris “pushed the door open and shot,” aiming directly at Murray.
“It was just bang-bang-bang,” she said. “I don’t know how many it was. It caught Justin. I don’t know where it hit him but I saw him fall.”
Before Harris left, Lee testified she heard him say “something about ‘playing with him.'”
Lee said she dropped to the floor and “pushed” Justin but he did not respond. She then called 911 while Brewer rolled Murray over and attempted CPR. Murray died on scene.
Sarah Fowler covered crime, education and community related events for The Dispatch.
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