Resident describes fire as ‘horror movie’
OAKLAND >> A former Ghost Ship resident testified Tuesday that when the deadly fire broke out last year, there was a woman sitting in a wicker chair, screaming like something out of a horror movie, and urging people not to come downstairs.
Michael Russell, who testified during the fourth day of a critical hearing for two former Ghost Ship residents facing charges to the deadly fire last year, said he saw the woman wearing a red beanie and green dress sitting nearby him.
“It was honestly like a horror movie,” he said. “(She said) ‘This is the will of the spirits of the forest.'”
He said the unidentified woman was screaming for people upstairs to stay up there for their own safety since the fire was downstairs. He didn't recognize her as a resident of the warehouse.
He never saw her again outside the warehouse and assumed the woman perished in the fire, one of the 36 victims.
Russell, who lived at the Ghost Ship warehouse for 10 months in 2016, described the scene happening near his space, near the front entrance and the front stairs of the warehouse. Other witness testimony revealed people upstairs at the dance party turned around from those front stairs and tried to head toward the back stairs.
He said he never saw anyone coming down those front steps.
The fire at the time was coming from the back of the warehouse and Russell testified that he saw an orange glow coming from the hallway. Although the flames were not reaching his area yet, the smoke had already filled the air, he said.
He had come out of his trailer to investigate after hearing a scuffle going on, and described it as something like a fight going on. Then, he heard someone yell, “Fire!”
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner will determine after the preliminary hearing if there's enough evidence to send former warehouse tenants Derick Almena and Max Harris to trial. Each is charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter by allegedly ignoring fire codes and obvious safety controls.
Harris has been described by witnesses as standing at the front entrance of the warehouse during the Dec. 2, 2016, event, taking donations and stamping hands for the dance party on the second floor. After the fire, he was seen guiding people out with the light of his cellphone flashlight.
Russell is the 10th witness the prosecution has provided in the preliminary hearing, which is expected to last at least through today. Russell described the inside of the Ghost Ship “a bit like a magical wonderland.” Photos shown during the hearing depicted the collective as filled with items and art, with multiple loft areas where people lived.
Witness Michael BradyRodriguez testified Tuesday morning that he lived there in 2013 but left in 2014. When he told Almena that he was leaving, he said at first his reaction was understanding, and then he became hostile.
He said that Almena “became angry, and had two of his acquaintances rob me and assault me.”
Brady-Rodriguez maintains he was robbed of his car and other personal items and ran to a nearby BART station for safety. He reported both the stolen car and the assault to the police several days later. When asked by prosecutor Autrey James why he didn't go to police sooner, he said he feared for his life.
Also on the witness stand Tuesday was Robert “Jake” Jacobitz, a man hired by Almena to do electrical work at the Ghost Ship. He called the warehouse space a “death trap,” the second witness to use that description in testimony. He described the transformer at the auto body shop next door, where he said the warehouse got its electricity from, as a “fire hazard.”
He said he became friends with Almena and even stayed overnight at the Ghost Ship as a guest. He said Almena discussed openly with him how he was struggling financially. He gave the example of when he submitted a bid to do work, Almena would turn to people and ask them to “pony up” and pull their money in to get the work done.
Oakland Fire Captain George Freelen finished off Tuesday's witnesses, testifying that he had been inside the Ghost Ship warehouse in September 2014 after an unrelated suspect arson fire had occurred outside.
He said there were a lot of things inside, which he deemed a “high fire load.”
He asked Almena to be let into the premises, and Almena told the fire official that no one was living inside. When asked by attorneys if he believed Almena, Freelen said he did.