Testimony in Erie homicide reveals friend ditched suspected murder weapon
A friend of Erie homicide suspect Torrance A. Norris testified on Thursday that he quickly disposed of a pile of clothing Norris had changed out of and a handgun left on top of the clothes when the friend found them on the floor of his East 23rd Street apartment on the early morning of March 18.
He put the clothing in the garbage and the gun under the stairs leading to his apartment before he retrieved the weapon the next day and threw it in a wooded area in another part of Erie, the friend testified.
Erie police would recover the clothing they believe Norris was wearing when they accused him of fatally shooting Naim Jahace Bayete, 21, before Norris went to his friend's house and changed clothes.
The suspected murder weapon was never recovered, according to an Erie police detective.
More: Erie police say confrontation at gas station preceded fatal shooting of 21-year-old man
Norris, 29, of Erie, was held for court Thursday afternoon on criminal homicide and other charges in the fatal shooting of Bayete following a preliminary hearing that featured testimony and several clips of surveillance video.
Among the clips shown in court was one that captured the shooting. In it, a man police said they identified as Norris is seen parking a sport-utility vehicle on a side street and walking to the 800 block of East 21st Street, where he hid between two houses before Bayete appeared in his own vehicle.
Shots were fired at Bayete's vehicle, which slowly moved forward before striking a tree.
Bayete had multiple gunshot wounds to his body, including a gunshot wound to the head, Detective Sgt. Ron Pilarski testified. Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook ruled the death a homicide due to a gunshot wound to the head.
A motive in the killing remained unclear Thursday, although testimony and prior police reports indicate that it possibly stemmed from a brief encounter Norris and Bayete had at the Speed Check gas station at East 18th and Parade streets shortly before the shooting.
Pilarski testified that Norris told investigators during an interview that he had gone to the Speed Check the morning of March 18 and bumped into the person who had gotten killed, and the two had an exchange of words. Police obtained surveillance video from the Speed Check that showed Norris and Bayete having words near the store's entrance, Pilarski said.
He said police, who knew what clothing Norris was wearing that morning, tracked him and his vehicle at various locations around the city before and after the shooting, including at the homicide scene and when Norris arrived at his friend's apartment on East 23rd Street. When he left the friend's house, he was wearing different clothing, according to testimony and video played at the hearing.
Pilarski said under questioning by Norris's lawyer, Bruce Sandmeyer, that police have not yet received the results of DNA and gunshot residue testing on the clothing they recovered. He said the 11 9 mm shell casings recovered at the shooting scene were also sent out for testing, but those results also were not in yet.
Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie man accused in March ambush killing held for court on homicide
