YOUNGSTOWN — Prosecutors again paired the testimony of a co-defendant with surveillance video, trying to convince jurors that Larenz Rhodes is one of six young men who ended a daylong feud by fatally shooting an innocent mother.

Rhodes is on trial in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on aggravated murder and other charges related to the Jan. 24, 2019, shooting death of Crystal Hernandez, 23, in her McBride Street apartment on the East Side.

Tuesday, co-defendant Martize Daniels, 20, testified, describing the shootings and countershootings that led to 53 gunshots being fired at Hernandez’s residence, one of which struck her in the head and neck area, killing her. The shots were intended for her boyfriend, Gabriel Smith, according to testimony.

On Thursday, Joquaun Blair, 23, who was among the six men who fired the 53 shots and rode in the car with Rhodes, 20, testified about the last-second remarks at the apartment that triggered the decision to “shoot up” the apartment.

All six men knew they were going to the residence of Smith, 20, with the intent to “shoot it up,” Blair testified. But Blair was among those in two cars who didn’t know where Smith lived.

Three earlier incidents Jan. 24, 2019, involving Smith convinced the group of six to take revenge, Blair said.

SHOOTUP

The six parked their cars near the apartment about 9:11 p.m. and walked to the back of the duplex. Surveillance video shows the vehicles arriving but doesn’t show them shooting at the back of the apartment.

Blair said when everyone got to the back of the building, he thought he heard Burton McGee, 21, telling one of the others to “go knock on the door and see who was in there. But I guess K-R (Maurice Redrick) said, ‘Just shoot the house up because they shot my aunt’s house up.'”

“And you guys started shooting?” assistant Prosecutor Kevin Trapp asked.

“Yes,” Blair said.

“Did everybody shoot?” Trapp asked.

“I think so,” Blair said.

When Trapp asked Blair where he fired, he said he fired into a brick part of the home and quickly ran back toward their cars. A surveillance video from the apartment complex, a Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority property, showed five males leaving the area on foot.

Blair said the six men involved besides him, McGee and Redrick, are Rhodes, Marquis Torrez-Willis, 22; and Johntez Scrivens, 21.

Prosecutors have said Rhodes was using an AK-47, a high-powered rifle. Prosecutors said 25 of the 53 shell casings found at the scene likely were fired by an AK-47-type weapon.

When Blair was asked to describe the type of weapon each of the six men had, he gave fairly clear answers but said he was uncertain as to whether Rhodes was using an AK-47.

Blair said he doesn’t know what type of weapon Rhodes fired into the house, but he believes it was an AK-47 because there was one in the back seat of the car after he, Rhodes and Scrivens returned to it after the gunfire.

Blair said he believes Rhodes and Scrivens both put their weapons in the back of the car before Rhodes got back into the driver’s seat.

Blair likewise looked at the video of the five men running back to their cars after the gunfire and said it “looks like” Rhodes was holding an assault rifle.

Blair’s plea agreement in the case calls for him to get 20 years in prison in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors.

FORENSICS

In earlier testimony Thursday, James Winston, director of operations for the housing authority, used a map provided by prosecutors to identify the locations captured in surveilance videos from the Victory Estates apartments where the killing took place.

The videos showed two cars — one dark and one white — that Blair and prosecutors said were used in the attack.

Kevin Belcik, forensic scientist with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, also testified Thursday regarding the bullet shell casings that were recovered on McBride. He said two of the firearms used were one size of firearm, one was a more powerful firearm, and one was an AK-47 type rifle.

Also testifying was William Santiago, who said Rhodes made remarks in the Mahoning County jail while they were both locked up there about shooting a big rifle during the Hernandez killing. Santiago said he told Rhodes that the intended victim Smith is his cousin.

Santiago, who admitted he has a lengthy criminal and prison record, said Rhodes demonstrated how he fired the rifle and “was still excited by it.”

“He was still there in the moment,” Santiago said.

The trial resumes with more testimony this morning.

erunyan@tribtoday.com