Salvador Villa worked as an armed security guard in a target store in downtown Los Angeles at the end of last December when he faced an alleged display thief.
The man was spotted by leaving the fig of the 7th shopping center carrying two suitcases filled with goods. Villa said that he and two other store employees tried to stop him.
Testifying Thursday during a hearing of the higher court of the county of the, Villa was impassive when asked if something strange happened next.
“Yeah,” said villa. “He pulled me.”
The suspect, Jabril Metoyer, faces multiple accusations of attempted murder, qualified theft and attempted theft. The target incident, according to the prosecutors, was his second shooting in three days in downtown – less than two kilometers from the courthouse.
Villa said that the store surveillance cameras caught Metoyer, then 25 years, trying to steal goods later worth $ 1,000 on December 30.
Villa said he was approaching the left side of Metoyer and touched him on the shoulder.
“I said to him:” It’s not a big problem. You will sign papers and you will go home “” said Villa about the initial meeting.
Metoyer later told the police that he thought he was kidnapped, and a detective had to explain that he could not withdraw products from a store without paying.
Villa, which entered the courtroom helped by a cane, was killed five times by Metoyer, according to the prosecutors. He testified that he could not keep his job because of his injuries.
The authorities claim that Metoyer also shot William Davis, 34, who testified aside the judiciary because his motorized wheelchair – required because of the extent of his injuries – prevented him from using the witness stand.
Davis welcomed customers at Target, checked the receipts and sometimes stopped the shoplifts at the door. He said he was in the hospital for six months and that he had very few memories of the shooting. He suffered from the ball injuries that crossed his leg and the scars in his chest after many resuscitation attempts, he said.
Police detectives, while hesitating if the metoyer could have experienced an episode of mental health or had been under the influence of drugs, described it as agitated during a recorded interview, passing absurdly from one subject to another. He was never tested for drugs or alcohol, but told the police that he was trying to stay sober.
Los Angeles Police Det. Miguel Garcia testified that some of Metoy’s answers were “disconnected from reality” and disjointed.
Metoyer admitted to having shot security agents and identified target surveillance images on fixed photos, police said.
Metoyer’s defense lawyer, Molly Zavidow, read from a statement of notes in which his client said he was target to obtain “supplies for the war in which I was in the state of”.
When the investigators asked where he went when he ran a scene after the shooting, Metoyer said that he “returned home to Jerusalem”.
Three days before, Metoyer would have been involved in another shooting in the surroundings.
A detective from the Los Angeles police department testified that Metoyer had approached a man named Mohammed Hoque to a hunting automatic counter, asking for donations for the conflict in Gaza. When Hoque said no, Metoyer left, then returned when Hoque released his wallet to use the machine, demanding money again, according to the detective testimony.
Det. Jaquelryn Navarro said Metoy asked: “$ 110 is it worth getting shot?” Before shooting a handgun and shooting the hoof in the stomach.
Metoyer told the police after being arrested that he defended himself after Hoque had made offensive gestures and reached a firearm in his belt.
He was going to shoot “the entity” – the word he used for Hicchers – a second time to kill him, but the weapon did not work, Metyer told the police, according to a transcription read by his lawyer.
“I would not even consider this thing as a human,” said Metoyer when the police showed him a hotel photo, according to the transcription read in court.
Metoyer was arrested on New Year’s Eve after a dead end of several hours in his building in the West Ingraham Street block 1200. The police recovered a 9 millimeter handgun that corresponded to the crime scenes shell, as well as a purple scarf that the target suspect was seen.
Metoyer was sentenced to be tried and stay in prison with a deposit of $ 4.1 million. Its indictment is scheduled for August 21.