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E-mail StoryWitness in teen's shooting death inconsistent in testimony
| Tuesday, May 20 2008 10:26 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21 2008 7:22 AM
Consistency, even from a good friend, is not a hallmark in the shooting death case of West High School student Joshua Ward.
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Terrell Young attended his preliminary hearing Tuesday. He faces murder charges stemming from the shooting death of 16-year-old Joshua Ward.
Murder suspect Jerald Larry listens to testimony at the preliminary trial for the murder of 16-year-old Joshua Ward.
Josh Ward
After two days of testimony in a preliminary hearing, the wild variations of Ward’s friend, Keenan Wilburn — who stood right next to Ward when he was shot — occupied much of the hearing.
Wilburn himself didn’t settle anything in his testimony on Monday, as he said the whole incident was “a blur” and he doesn’t remember much of what happened or what he said.
Wilburn is not only a friend of the 16-year-old victim, but he’s a friend of one of the suspects, 19-year-old Terrell Scott Young, and he has said he has seen the other suspect, 24-year-old Jerald Larry, in the neighborhood, detectives have testified.
Both suspects have gang affiliations, according to testimony.
Ward was shot at 2 a.m. Sept. 23 after he and Wilburn walked out of the Fairfax Grange, also known as the Sugar Shack, a rented hall at Fairfax Road and East Brundage Lane.
Wilburn is listed as a victim of an attempted murder in the case.
He clearly wasn’t comfortable testifying — taking long pauses to answer questions and repeating when pressed on an issue that he doesn’t remember what happened.
He said the only thing he does remember is that Young did not fire the shots. But in various statements he’s said Young was there and Young was not there.
At least one female witness has said Young was the shooter, sheriff’s Detective Kavin Brewer has testified.
Another female said Young was one of two men standing where the gun was fired, Brewer said.
One story that Wilburn gave was he noticed Young and another man, both wearing hooded sweatshirts and standing behind a pickup truck, as he and Ward left the building, Detective Sean Pratt testified.
When Wilburn saw Young, Young looked startled and nervous at the recognition, Pratt testified.
Wilburn told Pratt he warned Ward to watch out as he saw the second man reach over to Young’s midsection and remove a gun.
After the first shot, Ward said he was hit, and both Ward and Wilburn ran away as more shots were fired, the detective related.
Wilburn told the detectives the gunman was trying to shoot him too, but missed.
Five spent 9mm shell casings were found near the pickup truck, detectives said.
A gun a criminalist has reported was used to kill Ward was found hidden in a car that Larry and a woman took to Iowa in October, detectives said.
Larry was arrested in Iowa in connection with the Ward killing while he and the woman were in jail on charges of transporting a large amount of marijuana, detectives said.
Wilburn testified in the hearing that although he wrote that, he was not sure he could identify the shooter. And he’s identified at least one uncharged person as the shooter.
The hearing is expected to conclude today.