Jury Hears From Woman Left Paralyzed In Shooting That Killed 3

LONG BEACH, CA — A woman who was shot in the neck at a Halloween- themed birthday party in Long Beach where three other people were killed testified Wednesday that she knew right away she had been paralyzed.

Jasmine Johnson, who was brought into the Long Beach courtroom in a wheelchair, testified that she saw Melvin Williams II shot, waited for the gunfire to stop and saw that the position her feet were in was "completely off."

"I knew I was paralyzed immediately," she said of the Oct. 29, 2019, shooting in the backyard of a home in the 2700 block of East Seventh Street, between Temple and Junipero avenues in Long Beach's Rose Park area. "I was on the ground very close to Melvin. I was close enough to touch him. I was close enough to feel his blood. I was covered in it."

She said she tried to drag herself by her arms and left what was likely a blood trail shown in a photograph of the crime scene, and called out to other party-goers for help. She said she told one that she was paralyzed but he insisted she was not.

"I said, `I don't feel anything," Johnson testified.

The woman told jurors that she wanted to know where she had been shot after she was taken inside the house because she wanted to stop the bleeding and survive long enough for the paramedics to arrive. She said she learned that she had a gunshot wound to the left side of her neck, and wanted a fireman who was among the first-responders to know that she was "still strong and it was worth it to get me to the hospital as soon as possible."

She said she was hospitalized for nearly two months, noting that the shooting left her a paraplegic that leaves her without any feeling below her chest. She said she has a "constant fear of loud noises" that is "haunting" and understands that she has a shortened life span and no prognosis for any ability to walk in the future.

Johnson's testimony came during the trial of Jeremy Penh, 29, David Long, 23, Kaylin Thik, 24, Ryan Sim, 21, and Grant Johnson, 39.

The five are charged with murder in connection with the deaths of Williams, 35, of Gardena, Maurice Poe Jr., 25, of Long Beach, and Ricardo Torres, 28, of Inglewood, who died at the scene.

The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and gang-related murders, which could result in life prison sentences without the possibility of parole if the defendants are convicted.

The five defendants are also charged with nine counts of attempted murder involving Johnson and eight other people who were injured, including a young woman who was celebrating her birthday with co-workers from Hollywood Park Casino.

Along with Johnson, jurors heard Wednesday from six other party-goers - - most of whom were shot as they tried to flee when the gunfire rang out.

Nichole Vasquez said she came to the party with her cousin, Poe, as her guest, and tried unsuccessfully to call him as she waited to be taken to the hospital.

Gabrielle Williams testified that she arrived at the party with her brother, Melvin, and her roommate, and eventually saw a silhouette of someone in a black hoodie and a mask on top of the gate leading to the alley and thought it might be a friend climbing over to get into the party. She said the gunfire appeared to be random and not aimed at anyone.

The woman, who was shot in a leg and underwent two separate surgeries including one three years later, said she found out the day after the shooting that her brother had been killed.

Alejandro Nunez described "overlapping" gunfire and said he didn't initially think he had been struck. He said he wound up waiting outside and led them to the bodies in the backyard, and eventually realized that he had been shot in the arm and left thigh.

Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee told jurors in her opening statement Tuesday that the alleged mastermind mistakenly believed rival gang members would be attending the party that night.

"The plan was to kill rival gang members. The only problem was there were no rival gang members there," the prosecutor said.

Penh's attorney, Amy Jacks, acknowledged that her client -- the son of Cambodian immigrants -- joined a gang because he lived in a neighborhood in Long Beach where gangs were prevalent. But she said he was not at the scene of the shooting and did what he could do to try to diffuse the situation that was building.

"The truth is that Mr. Penh is not guilty," Jacks told the Long Beach jury.

Defense attorney Daniel Nardoni told jurors there was no DNA or fingerprint evidence linking Long to the crime and no witnesses identifying him as one of the gunmen.

Nardoni said his client eventually lied to undercover jailhouse informants about being involved with the shooting after being warned about what could happen to him in county jail following more than three hours of conversation in which Long adamantly denied participating in the crime.

Attorneys for Thik, Sim and Johnson reserved their opening statements until the start of the defense's portion of the case.

The prosecutor told jurors that Penh masterminded the attack after hearing from a childhood friend that a man he believed had disrespected "his hood" in a video was hosting the party, with Penh then driving Long, Thik and Sim to the crime scene where the three allegedly opened fire and turned a party of friends and co-workers into a scene of "terror and bloodshed."

Penh had called his childhood friend to warn him to go inside the home, with everyone else at the party subsequently rounded up to go inside the home, Hanisee said.

Penh called his childhood friend again to ask why he told everyone to go inside, and the friend responded, "There's nobody here that gang-bangs. It's just my co-workers," the prosecutor told jurors.

The party-goers eventually started filtering into the backyard again and within minutes it was "turned into a shooting gallery," the prosecutor said.

"They were screaming, they were running, they were falling to the ground...," Hanisee told jurors.

Johnson was allegedly a passenger in the get-away vehicle -- a PT Cruiser -- that was caught multiple times on surveillance video along with two other vehicles in a convoy driving in Long Beach before the shooting, Hanisee said.

A forensic firearms examiner concluded that three different guns were used based on a microscopic examination of 23 bullet casings that were recovered from the scene, but no guns were ever recovered, the prosecutor said.

Ingrid Cortes, who was celebrating her birthday that night, testified Tuesday that she heard what she thought was fireworks before being struck in the chest.

"I was like, `These are not fireworks,"' she said, noting that she saw everyone running when the gunfire erupted.

When asked if the shooting took her by surprise, she said, "It sure did."

She testified that she eventually blacked out and awoke to her friends trying to take care of her wounds in the home's living room, and subsequently spent a month in a hospital.

Three additional defendants who were initially charged with the shootings have reached plea deals, with one of them expected to testify during the trial.

By TERRI VERMEULEN KEITH, City News Service