Wednesday, March 5th 2014, 11:22 pm
Testimony began Wednesday in the double murder trial of Willie Wise. He is accused of opening fire in front of a Tulsa Best Buy, killing two people.
It was early afternoon in July of 2012 when police say shots were fired in the store's parking lot. The intended target was Scott Norman. Inside, Wesley Brown was shopping with his young daughter when a bullet struck him in the chest.
7/14/2012 Related Story: Two Men Fatally Shot At Tulsa Best Buy
After opening statements at Wise's jury trial, Brown's preteen daughter was first on the witness stand. She explained to jurors she and her dad went to Best Buy to buy her mother a birthday present. She said they stopped on their way out of the store to look at a DVD when she heard her dad yell, grab his chest and fall to the ground. She thought he was joking until she saw the blood coming from his chest.
Shania Craven testified next. Craven was arrested as an accessory to murder in the shooting, but those charges were later dropped. She testified that on the morning of the shooting, she and her cousin, Jeremy Foster, went to Promenade Mall in her car. Foster is also charged with murder for this shooting. Craven said the two were separated inside the mall and when they met in the parking lot, Foster brought Wise with him.
Craven said when she, Foster and Wise left the mall she heard Wise say, "They going to Best Buy," referring to the target and his brother. She explained when they got to Best Buy, Wise got out of the car for a couple minutes, and when he returned he said, "Bro, I got him."
The prosecution asked Craven what happened after the shooting and she told the jury all three of them went to an apartment complex in Tulsa. Craven said Wise and Foster went to the bathroom inside a friend's apartment and when Wise came out, he was wearing different clothes that appeared to be too small.
Craven said the three then went back to Craven's car to leave. While they were in the car she said she heard Wise on the phone telling someone to take his clothes to a dumpster in the apartment complex.
During cross examination the defense tried to tarnish Craven's credibility, bringing up the fact she lied to detectives after she was arrested. Craven told the jury she was not truthful with investigators because both suspects told her if she said anything they'd kill her too. She said after she sat in jail for two months, she decided it was time to tell the truth.
Security was on high alert at the trial since investigators believe the shooting was sparked by gang retaliation.
Testimony will continue Thursday morning for Wise. Foster, however, is scheduled to have a separate trial.
March 5th, 2014
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