RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Loved ones and police officers gave jurors a clearer picture on Tuesday of a fatal shooting that occurred after a 2023 Virginia high school graduation ceremony on day two of the shooter's trial.
State prosecutors aim to convict Amari Pollard of the first-degree murder of 18-year-old Shawn Jackson, who was killed moments after his high school graduation.
The prosecution says Pollard, 20, shot Jackson six times outside of Huguenot High School's graduation on June 6, 2023. Jackson's friends returned fire, but the bullets meant for Pollard pierced bystanders watching the scene unfold.
"I seen my little brother on the ground looking at me but not looking at me," Jackson's sister Destiny told the jury. "I fell to the ground and cried."
Jackson's relatives, close friends and police officers testified for the prosecution, who are hoping to convince the jury that Pollard premeditated his killing of Jackson. The defense instead claims Jackson cornered Pollard and threatened him, leaving him no choice but to shoot in self-defense.
The trial now revolves around the series of events leading up to the shooting and the interactions Pollard had with police in the aftermath. The defense argues that Jackson, his stepfather Renzo Smith — who died in the crossfire — and Jackson's friends antagonized Pollard in a park directly across the road from the graduation venue, leaving Pollard scared for his life.
Jackson's mother, Tameeka Jackson-Smith, cried on the stand as she recounted the moment she saw her husband and son on the pavement and heard retaliatory shots fired in Pollard's direction. A car hit Jackson-Smith's 9-year-old daughter when she attempted to run away from the gunfire, leaving her in a wheelchair for over a month.
"I seen him shoot my son in the goddamn head twice," Jackson-Smith said of the chaotic scene. "If you are going to shoot someone else, just shoot me."
Pollard, who attended the ceremony to see his cousin graduate, purportedly had bad blood with Jackson and his friends. The exact reason for the beef is unknown, but Jackson's close friend Jamon Flowers testified Tuesday that Pollard had poked fun at Flowers on Instagram for being shot on his way to his bus stop in September of 2022.
After Jackson walked the stage but before the ceremony ended, Smith, several of Jackson's friends and Pollard all separately retrieved firearms from their cars. Jackson's friends told the jury they grabbed their guns because they had recently been shot and wanted extra protection in the large crowd gathering after the ceremony. The defense argued that the real reason for retrieving the guns was to kill Pollard after realizing he was at the ceremony.
What is undisputed is that Jackson — surrounded by his friends and Smith — and Pollard — surrounded by his cousin and family — had an oral argument that intensified before Pollard pulled out his gun and shot Jackson.
Flowers and Smith attempted to shoot Pollard but ended up wounding five others as he ran from the scene. The parties dispute who threatened whom in the lead-up.
"Shawn was walking away from the situation," Flowers said. "He didn't have the chance to run."
The defense put a lot of weight into Pollard's behavior after the shooting as proof that he acted in self-defense. They showed a video of Pollard running to a nearby parking deck, where he suffered a visual panic attack while pleading for help.
Pollard first interacted with Virginia Commonwealth University safety ambassador Denise Smith, an unarmed member of the university police department. The video shows Pollard's gun dropping from his pocket as he verbalizes that Jackson's friends are trying to kill him.
Officer Smith, unaware of Pollard's involvement at that time, tried to keep him away from the gun, but video showed Pollard — in between vocalizing his fear of going to jail for life and apologizing — grabbing the weapon from the ground and attempting suicide. The gun was out of bullets.
"I'm about to go to jail for life," bodycam footage shows Pollard saying before pulling the trigger. "I'm sorry, I thought they was gonna kill me."
University police officer David Pullman then arrived and approached a visibly distraught Pollard, who hugged Pullman. Bodycam footage showed Pollard claiming he would turn himself in to the police but that he needed to leave the area. Pullman, also unaware of Pollard's full involvement, handcuffed Pollard and hid him in a stairwell for his safety.
Though the defense portrayed Pollard as someone scared for their life, the prosecution argued that Pollard was attempting to escape from the scene when he ran to the parking deck rather than turning himself in. Bodycam footage also showed Pollard trying to walk away from the authorities and find his car multiple times in the aftermath of the shooting.
Other witnesses included Jackson's girlfriend, two of his close friends who attended the graduation and Jada Silver, an ex-girlfriend of Pollard's friend who was with Pollard throughout the day. The ex-girlfriend, Jada Silver, told the jury that Jackson approached Pollard in the lead-up, while Flower said the opposite was true.
The FBI produced a 90-minute video compiling responding officers' body cam footage and surveillance tape. The prosecutors will walk the jury through the video evidence on Wednesday. Only a couple of witnesses have yet to testify.
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