A Man Who Allegedly Shot An Unarmed Black Airbnb Guest Who Was Crossing The Street Said “Oh, You Think You Can Run?” Before Firing His Weapon
A California man who allegedly shot a 21-year-old unarmed Black man who was crossing the road informed him, “Oh, you suppose you possibly can run?” earlier than firing his weapon and placing the younger man at the back of his leg, officers mentioned Friday.
Throughout a preliminary listening to, San Jose police Det. Jessica Lindenberg testified that the sufferer, who survived the taking pictures, informed her in an interview that he was staying at an Airbnb throughout the road from 67-year-old Mark Waters’s residence on Oct. 2, 2022, when he left the rental to go to a close-by Safeway for meals round 11 p.m. As he was crossing the road to get onto the sidewalk, the sufferer, recognized as El’hajj Bullock, mentioned he noticed Waters exit his home with a gun in his hand.
“[Bullock] believed in that second that he was being robbed,” Lindenberg mentioned, including that Bullock mentioned he put his palms as much as present they have been empty “and mentioned one thing alongside the strains of, ‘I don’t have something.’”
Lindenberg testified that Bullock mentioned Waters then pulled the gun up and pointed it at his chest. At that time, Bullock circled and began to run away from Waters.
As he was working, Bullock mentioned, he heard Waters say, “Oh, you suppose you possibly can run?,” heard the sound of a gunshot, after which fell to the bottom as he felt ache in his proper leg.
Bullock was transported to a neighborhood hospital, the place he underwent surgical procedure to restore a damaged femur, in accordance with Santa Clara County Deputy District Legal professional Aidan Welsh. Because of the taking pictures, Bullock was nonetheless experiencing ache and counting on crutches and a wheelchair to get round two months later, Lindenberg testified.
Waters, who’s at present being held with out bail, is going through one rely of felony assault with a semi-automatic firearm leading to nice bodily damage and involving the private use of a firearm in reference to the taking pictures, which officers have described as an “unprovoked assault.” Authorities are additionally persevering with to research doable hate crime allegations, however prosecutors haven’t filed any extra costs or enhancements.
Throughout the listening to Friday, each Welsh and Waters’s lawyer Jose Badillo questioned Lindenberg and San Jose police officer Mitchell Magnano, who responded to the scene, in regards to the investigation into the incident.
Surveillance footage from a close-by residence that captured the taking pictures was additionally performed in courtroom. In line with police, the video confirmed that Bullock was working away from Waters because the defendant moved towards him and fired his weapon, which was recognized by Welsh as a Glock 22 semi-automatic pistol.
Waters then went again inside to go away the firearm in the home, Badillo mentioned, earlier than going as much as Bullock and calling 911.
Magnano mentioned Waters reported that he had shot somebody he thought was breaking into his home. In line with officers, nevertheless, the surveillance footage confirmed Bullock was shot whereas he was on the street and nowhere close to the doorway to Waters’s residence, his entrance garden, or his driveway.
Lindenberg testified that Bullock informed police he had checked into the Airbnb throughout the road from Waters’s home earlier that day. He mentioned he had not met Waters, didn’t have any prior interactions with him, and didn’t see him earlier than the taking pictures. Whereas being taken into custody, Waters appeared to precise some remorse, in accordance with the detective’s testimony, telling the officer who was detaining him, “I can’t take it again, what I’ve carried out. I fucked up.”
Waters informed police that after the taking pictures he noticed a set of headphones close to Bullock, which he claimed he mistakenly thought was a firearm. A photograph from the scene confirmed a pair of silver and white headphones on the scene, in accordance with Lindenberg.
“Have you ever ever seen a white firearm earlier than?” Welsh mentioned.
“Not in my expertise, no,” Lindenberg testified.
Whereas cross-examining the detective, Badillo tried to introduce proof about Waters calling police two days earlier than the taking pictures as a result of he believed then, too, that somebody was breaking into his home. Badillo mentioned that the prior incident “goes to [Waters’s] motivation.” Badillo additionally requested the courtroom to permit him to current surveillance footage of an unidentified individual peering into Waters’s automobile lower than an hour earlier than the taking pictures, however Santa Clara County Superior Court docket Choose Shelyna Brown barred him from doing so throughout the possible trigger portion of the listening to.
Brown in the end dominated that there was enough proof for the case to go earlier than a jury. The courtroom then heard arguments from the attorneys about whether or not to scale back Waters’s bail. Waters had been arrested on the scene however later launched on a pre-arraignment bail of $100,000. It wasn’t till November that he was formally charged with a criminal offense. Throughout his arraignment on Dec. 12, he was remanded to custody on a no-bail maintain.
Badillo requested that Waters be given the chance to pay a money bail and return residence throughout the authorized proceedings.
“He’s 67 years outdated [and has] no report in any respect,” the lawyer mentioned. “With the assist of his household, I believe there are circumstances that may be in place that may defend the neighborhood.”
Badillo informed the courtroom that two days earlier than the taking pictures Waters’s automobile was damaged into and his storage door was left open in an incident that left his daughter, who lives on the residence, scared. On the day of the taking pictures, Waters was alerted to somebody “attempting to get into his automobile or into his home.”
“That’s why he has a firearm,” Badillo mentioned, arguing that, when Waters noticed Bullock “popping out of the darkish,” he was already on alert.
Nonetheless, Badillo admitted that there’s no proof that Bullock was “concerned in something occurring” at Waters’s home and that his consumer “could also be mistaken.”
However Welsh argued that Waters’s conduct posed a transparent public security menace, contemplating that based mostly on his statements he knew that Bullock was working away when he fired his weapon.
“The defendant had fired a shot on a residential avenue and will have hit anybody,” Welsh mentioned.
He additionally identified that Bullock appears nothing just like the unidentified one who peered into Waters’s automobile and cited statements from a decide who oversaw a earlier listening to within the case that there are “questions of racial motivations.”
In prior incidents when Waters reported being burglarized, he known as the police, Welsh mentioned, “however right here he says, ‘I see somebody exterior of my home and I believe he’s breaking into my automobile,’ however he doesn’t name the police.”
“He needs to search out that individual,” the prosecutor mentioned. “He needs to inflict revenge on them or catch them and that’s what led to this.”
“He shot him with out asking any questions,” Welsh continued.
Brown determined to not change Waters’s bail, saying that his actions posed “a public security concern of each conceivable stage.” Waters is due again in courtroom on Feb. 21.
