Cops: Accused killer claimed fatal shooting was self-defense
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> Upper Darby Detective Phil Lydon said a man on trial this week for the March 2016 shooting death of 35-yearold Shawn O. Mitchell indicated in a statement to police that the victim had threatened him with a firearm.
“He came in yesterday, I disarmed him, I went outside and I fired it in the air to scare fire,” Jermaine Crosley allegedly told Lydon the day after Mitchell was shot dead at his home on the 500 block of Timblerlake Road.
Crosley, 29, is facing charges of homicide, murder in the first and third degree, possession of a firearm by person prohibited and possession of a weapon in the shooting that took place shortly after 2:15 p.m. March 12, 2016.
Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge James Bradley heard from Mitchell’s widow Tuesday, who said Crosley had been living in a shed behind their home over the winter and sometimes slept in the basement on cold nights.
Nhashara SamuelsMitchell said she witnessed Crosley, who she knew as “Wassi,” chasing her husband down a back alley shooting at him on the afternoon of March 12. She yelled out for Crosley to stop, but she said he turned to her and said, “He takes me for a fool!”
The couple’s 9-year-old daughter also testified that she saw Crosley and her father fighting over a handgun in the basement and saw Crosley shooting at someone in the alley, but could not see who.
The victim collapsed at the corner of Timberlake Road and Patterson Avenue. He was transported to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he died following emergency surgery.
Lydon said Wednesday that Crosley told him Mitchell – who he knew by the nickname “Fire” – had previously terrorized him with two other unidentified men.
“‘Fire pulls a gun while we were in the basement,’” Lydon said, reading from Crosley’s statement given March 13, 2016. “‘Two guys were holding me and (he) pointed (the gun) at my feet. I heard a ‘boom’ and I thought I got shot in the leg.’”
Crosley went on to describe Mitchell firing more shots and defending himself with a piece of iron before taking the gun and unloading it, according to Lydon. Further questioning revealed that alleged incident had not happened the day of Mitchell’s death, though Crosley allegedly said there were three occasions that similar events took place.
Lydon told Assistant District Attorney Michelle Thurstlic-O’Neill the he followed up on those allegations, but was unable to find anything supporting them.
Detective Thomas Fitzpatrick told the judge that he photographed and combing the basement, where he found what appeared to be a bullet hole in a headboard and box spring leaned against the wall.
No bullet was recovered from that hole, he said, but a projectile was taken out of a hole in the wall. Fitzpatrick also photographed what appeared to be streaks of blood on the inside of the basement door leading to the alley.
Lydon said Crosley led detectives to the gun, a .357 magnum that had been stashed above a PECO box behind a house in the 400 block of Timberlake Road. Samuels-Mitchell said the couple had bought the gun for protection when they owned a restaurant and that her husband usually carried it on his hip. If he did not have the gun on him, it was stored in a bedroom or high up in a washroom by the back deck, she said. Samuels-Mitchell said she did not think her husband had the weapon on him when she talked to him that day, shortly before the confrontation with Crosley.
Delaware County Detective Louis Grandizio testified that he was able to match the bullet taken from the wall of the basement and a bullet supplied by the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office to the gun, as well as four spent cartridge casings.
The trial is expected to continue today with testimony from the medical examiner.