Shadee Johnson said a night of playing games and smoking marijuana laced with PCP ended up with his friend dead, with shots fired toward another friend and with himself in the hospital with a wounded groin.
Johnson previously told police Aquasay Harris, 30, of Easton, shot him in Johnson’s apartment on Sept. 24, 2020, in the 1600 block of Spruce Street in Wilson Borough.
That’s the night 18-year-old Nikal Jones, Johnson’s friend and roommate, was shot dead in the apartment. Jones grew up in Phillipsburg, his friends and family said, but he was living with Johnson at the time.
In court on Friday, Johnson identified Elijah Ford, 32 of Freemansburg, as the man who shot and killed Jones. And he said Ca’Mel Douglas, 20, of Allentown, fired shots into a small music studio in the apartment where Antone Beam was holding the doors, trying to keep Douglas out.
Beam testified he heard the shots, fell back into the studio and saw a hand come in and fire at least one shot.
Johnson testified at the preliminary hearing all the men were “smoking and playing a game” and making music prior to the shootout. Police found 12 shell casings in the apartment after the shots were fired.
Johnson said all six men were in the apartment’s small kitchen when Harris pointed a gun at him. Johnson said he told Harris to “chill” and Harris told him he was just playing. Then Harris, Douglas and Ford left the kitchen. Johnson said he thought they left the apartment when he heard a gunshot. He said he was “tripping,” meaning he was so stunned he couldn’t believe what he heard.
Then the three stormed back into the kitchen with guns and Harris shot Johnson in the “private parts,” Johnson said. He said he struggled with Harris for the gun when Ford fatally shot Jones.
“I’m fighting for my life,” Johnson testified.
As he fought with Harris, he said he saw Douglas run across the kitchen and fire into the studio.
Johnson said he blacked out and fell on top of Harris. He said he then woke up and left the kitchen.
“I went in my room and grabbed a towel because I was bleeding and I was beat up. When I got back in the kitchen he was gone,” he said of Harris.
Beam testified he met Johnson and Jones about a week prior to the shootout. He said he was in the apartment to use the music studio.
He said he was in the kitchen with Jones and Johnson when he heard shots elsewhere in the house. He said he fell backward into the studio and tried to shut the door when a hand with a gun came in.
“That’s when I seen the flashes go off,” said an emotionally shaken Beam. “I was afraid someone would shoot through the door.”
He said he lay on the ground in the dark room for about 20 minutes.
“I was on the ground praying I didn’t die,” Beam said.
Johnson said he rented a nearby garage/apartment to Douglas and Harris. He said they were all friends and Douglas and Harris came to Johnson’s apartment frequently. But, prior to the shootout Johnson said he learned Harris was going to inform police about Johnson’s marijuana sales. Also, Jones had recently beaten up a friend of Harris, Douglas and Ford, Johnson said. That friend, Tim Mancini, died in a car crash the day after Jones was killed, police said.
An unnamed witness previously told police that according to Douglas, Jones was supposed to kill someone in New Jersey, but didn’t. So Jones was killed to “tie up loose ends,” Douglas allegedly told the witness.
Wilson police officer Daniel Pacchioli testified Harris confessed to Jones’ murder. He said DNA from Harris and Ford was found in the kitchen.
Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek testified Friday Jones was shot twice in the abdomen, once in the leg, once in the shoulder and once in the arm.
Beam said when he emerged from the studio in a panic, Johnson was limping around the apartment and handed him a bag to drop in the alley. Beam ran from the apartment, ditched the bag, then went back inside because he wanted to “see what was going on with his friends.”
Beam said he found Jones slumped over a coffee table in the kitchen.
“I seen Nike laying on the table trying to breathe and gasp for air. I was just trying to hold him,” Beam said of Jones.
Johnson said he drove himself to the hospital. He was hospitalized for three days and had surgery due to his groin injury. Johnson said he’s not fully recovered.
Johnson said he had security cameras in the apartment. But the cameras weren’t working the day of the shooting and the phone he used to download the footage went missing, he testified.
District Judge Richard Yetter ordered Ford, Douglas and Harris to stand trial for criminal homicide and related charges.
Harris’ attorney Christopher Shipman argued there’s no evidence that Harris conspired to kill Jones. Deputy District Attorney William Blake said Harris is guilty due to accomplice liability.
“These three co-defendants came charging into that kitchen guns blazing. That makes them accomplices,” Blake said.
Douglas’ attorney Matt Deschler said the three had only left the kitchen for about 12 seconds before returning. That’s hardly enough time to form a conspiracy, he said.
Blake disagreed. He said it was an abundant amount of time to agree to work together. The fact that they went after different victims shows they were working as a single unit, he said.
Although Johnson testified Ford killed Jones, Ford’s attorney Robert Patterson said the case will offer jurors plenty of reasonable doubt.
“I would love to explain this case to a jury today if I could because there’s so much wrong with it,” he told Yetter.
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Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com.
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