Witness describes chase before fatal shooting, crash
A few days after the shooting, the witness said Walker told him the Volvo had driven up next to him and the driver began shooting at him, so he fired back. Thompson said no gun was recovered from either the Volvo or the victim.
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A Chester man testified Tuesday that he saw Jamere Avona Walker jump into a car and speed after 32-yearold J. Charles Hopkins minutes before Hopkins was found shot and near death.
“(He) said, ‘That’s that m----------- right there,’ and jumped in the Dodge and pulled off in the same direction as the Volvo,” the witness said. “Moments later I hear multiple gun shots. Seven, eight, nine, something like that.”
Chester Housing Authority Police Officer Elijah Thompson said he got a report about shots fired at about 2:30 a.m. Aug. 30, 2016, and drove to the 1400 block of West Third Street to investigate. He had been on patrol in Chatham Estates about two or three blocks away and arrived within a minute, he said. Thompson said he did not hear gunshots or the sounds of a crash, but found a red 2005 Volvo and a gold 2002 Dodge Intrepid crashed into the wall of Thomas M. Thomas Memorial Presbyterian Church.
Several firefighters were at the scene when he arrived, but Thompson said he waived them back and drew his service weapon. The Intrepid was empty, but Thompson said he found an unconscious and unresponsive man in the Volvo bleeding profusely from the head.
The man, later identified as Hopkins, was barely breathing, said Thompson. He was transported by ambulance to Crozer-Chester Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 3:54 a.m. Delaware County Medical Examiner Dr. Fredric N. Hellman ruled his death a homicide due to multiple gunshot wounds to his head and torso.
Thompson told Assistant District Attorney Sean McNabb that he found a black semi-automatic handgun on the Intrepid’s dashboard. No gun was recovered from the Volvo.
The witness said he had been hanging out with Walker outside Sporty’s West End Cocktail Lounge at Third and Hayes streets when Hopkins drove by. That was when Walker allegedly jumped into the Intrepid – a vehicle the witness had borrowed from another man – and sped off. The witness said he often kept the keys to the Dodge in the ignition or cup holder.
A few days after the shooting, the witness said Walker told him the Volvo had driven up next to him and the driver began shooting at him, so he fired back. Thompson said no gun was recovered from either the Volvo or the victim.
Defense attorney Eugene Tinari spent much of his cross-examination trying to impugn the credibility of the witness, noting the crash had taken place approximately 1 mile from the bar and that the witness initially told police he did not know whose car Walker had jumped into.
Tinari also noted the witness did not come forward and identify Walker until he was arrested on his own gun charges. A plea agreement in the witness’s case indicates sentencing is deferred until after his cooperation in Walker’s prosecution is complete, according to Tinari.
Tinari asked whether the witness expects any leniency. While he is hoping for the judge to be lenient, the witness said, he has not been promised anything and does not know what the judge will do.
Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Wills said the prosecuting attorney in the witness’s case will not offer a recommendation for sentencing and the standard guideline for the offense is 48 to 60 months.
Firefighter Charles Rutledge testified in a previously recorded statement played for the jury Tuesday that he was asleep in the firehouse across from where the accident took place when he and others in the station were awoken by a gunshot.
After checking out the back parking lot to see if any cars there had been struck, Rutledge said the firefighters opened the bay doors in the front and saw the accident, as well as a person wearing dark clothing running down an alley parallel to Tilghman Street. He estimated the doors opened approximately two minutes after he heard the shot.
Also testifying was Chester Crime Scene Investigator Jeff Linowski, who said he recovered seven shell casings from the Intrepid, the handgun and Third Street, as well as blood samples from inside the Dodge and a cellphone.
Two fingerprints on the gun could not be identified, said Linowski, but the blood samples were sent off to the Pennsylvania State Police crime lab for DNA testing.
Linowski also described pictures he had taken of both vehicles. The Volvo had multiple bullet holes in the driver side and a bullet was recovered from the frame, but no weapons were recovered. There was also an outgoing bullet hole in the passenger-side door of the Intrepid but no soot or gunpowder, said Linowski.
The trial before Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge George Pagano is expected to continue today.