‘He killed my cousin.’ Witness testifies about 2022 Lexington murder
A woman present at the time of a 2022 fatal shooting in a Lexington apartment complex said she only saw the murder suspect with a gun after the shooting, when he was waving it around in the air.
Jonathan Lockhart, 41, is on trial for murder this week for allegedly killing 51-year-old Raymond Brooks at an apartment complex in the 1700 block of Jennifer Road in September 2022.
The jury trial began Monday. Prosecutors said during opening statements Lockhart was the bystander to a nearby fight between other people when he suddenly pulled out a gun and fatally shot Brooks, also a bystander.
Tuesday, Odyssey Howard, a woman involved in the fight, took the stand to recall the moments before and after the fatal shooting of her cousin, Brooks.
Witness recounts moments before shooting
Howard said prior to the shooting, she was at the Jennifer Road apartments while Brooks was out grabbing liquor. When he returned, Howard confronted another man, Rodriguez “Rod” Schooler, about statements he made about her.
As things escalated, Howard said she began to fight Schooler while Brooks and Lockhart were nearby.
She recalled suddenly hearing a gunshot go off and looked to find Brooks clutching his stomach and bleeding. She said she didn’t know anyone had a gun or weapons.
Howard testified Tuesday that Lockhart suddenly began screaming, “Look what you all made me do,” while running around the apartments and waving a gun around.
However, Lockhart’s attorney said Howard neglected to share that information in her first interview with police. It wasn’t until later that she gave a statement that said she saw Lockhart with a gun.
She became irate when it was suggested she changed her story or was involved in the murder.
“(Lockhart) killed my cousin,” Howard yelled in the courtroom.
She said she regretted becoming so angry and fighting Schooler, believing it is what resulted in the fatal shooting of Brooks.
“I feel like, if I had not reacted so fast, maybe my cousin would still be alive,” she said.
Additional testimony focuses on bystander
Much of the testimony from Tuesday focused on Schooler.
Jurors watched body-worn camera footage from police responding to the shooting. They provided medical care to Schooler, who was hunched over, sweating and in and out of consciousness after the shooting, video shows.
Police tested Schooler for gunshot residue, which can be left behind on a person that fires a gun, according to court testimony.
The weapon, believed to be a 9 mm pistol, was never recovered. Investigators only had shell casings to test in efforts to determine what weapon was used.
Prosecutors made efforts to show that Schooler was not the shooter, pointing to the lack of gunshot residue on his hands.
However, Kazee questioned whether first responders could have cleaned off Schooler’s hands while offering him medical care.
Five days after the shooting, Lockhart was arrested for unrelated drug charges and housed in the Fayette County Detention Center. He was charged with Brooks’ murder in November.
His trial is expected to last through Thursday.
