Staff photo / Ed Runyan Ashuad D. Johnson, 19, left, sits with his attorney, Jeff Goodman, during Johnson’s aggravated murder trial Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

WARREN — Jurors got a provocative summary of the aggravated murder trial of Ashuad D. Johnson, 19, during Monday’s opening statements from the prosecution and defense, and then got to see surveillance video of the episode to help them sort out the facts for themselves.

Johnson was indicted Feb. 19 on charges of aggravated murder, gun specifications, tampering with evidence and receiving stolen property in the late Feb. 11 shooting death of Da’Mar McKinney, 16, of Youngstown. The trial resumes this afternoon.

His codefendant is Willis Smith IV, who was indicted on a charge of aggravated murder with a gun specification and tampering with evidence.

McKinney was killed in an incident that left bullet shell casings around the parking lot of the Packard House apartments on Mahoning Avenue NW in Warren after Johnson and another man emerged from the apartments and clashed with what defense attorney Jeff Goodman called the “gang from Youngstown.”

Trumbull County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker said the videos show the two men “walk up from a basement and shoot at a group of individuals who were doing nothing but walking in that parking lot.”

He said the gunfire “clearly surprised the individuals who were in that parking lot. The defendant and his codefendant quietly opened a door from a basement apartment, and you will see from not just one camera angle, (you) will see from three or four different camera angles (Johnson) and his codefendant shoot at three or four individuals who are in the parking lot that had been driven up here from Youngstown.”

Becker said the videos show the individuals from Youngstown “run, duck behind cars. And you will eventually see on the … video the individual (McKinney) get shot. You’ll see him run and then you will see him collapse.”

Becker said on the video, Johnson is “clearly identified … before the shooting because twice leading up to the shooting he exited and came back to that apartment complex.”

Becker said Johson’s face, body and clothing are visible on the videos with his clothing having distinct characteristics, such as Carhart jacket with a bleach stain on the back and black Adidas pants with a white stripe down the side and red and brown shoes that were recovered with a search warrant.

Becker said the “victims and the others — the story is that they were coming up here, and they were going to trade something. No one seems to know what they were going to trade, but they wanted to trade something.”

Becker said the group that came up from Youngstown fled after Johnson and his codefendant shot at McKinney and the others with him, they hid, ran away and tried to get back in the vehicle that brought them there.

And “Only after (Johnson) and his codefendant fled back into apartment 104 … will you see an individual that… came in that group shoot back at” Johnson and his codefendant,” Becker said. That was “long after (Johnson and his codefendant) have run back downstairs to apartment 104 at 1377 Mahoning Avenue,” Becker said.

DEFENSE

Goodman, meanwhile, in his opening statement started out by saying, “A gang from Youngstown, a gang of people from Youngstown, loaded themselves into a car,” including McKinney and several other people, including Calvin Shelton, Marcus Merchant, Tyrone Blair and Derica Howard.

Goodman said Shelton was communicating with a person named Shamar Wells, “and they were arranging to trade guns, which is fine as a general principle. You can trade guns in Ohio.”

Goodman said Johnson, Wells and Willis Smith were “hanging out together, and they were communicating with Shelton.”

Goodman said Shelton was arranging with Johnson “to meet up.” Johnson and the girl from the Youngstown group made arrangements to meet up down the street from the apartment complex. He said surveillance video shows that Johnson and Wells left the apartment and drove down the street at the appointed time.

When they got to the second location, they saw Warren police nearby, so Johnson contacted Shelton and said they could not meet up, Goodman said.

“And that’s when we see the gang from Youngstown on video. You will see the security footage. They pull into the parking lot of Ashuad’s home. They pull into the parking lot uninvited.” The video shows Shelton walking through the parking lot talking on his phone, Goodman said.

“The crew from Youngstown FaceTimed (Wells), and they said, ”Hey, we’re doing this.'” Goodman disagreed with Becker’s description of how the people from Youngstown carried themselves when they arrived at the Packard apartment parking lot.

Goodman said they were not “just wandering around the parking lot not sure where to go.” Goodman said the people from Youngstown “do a full surveillance on the whole parking lot. The car backs into a spot. Four guys get out. These guys go in with a combat-ambush posture,” Goodman said.

“Two break off this way. One breaks off this way. One breaks off this way.” Goodman said one person was hiding behind an outcropping in one of the buildings with his eye on the doorway of Ashuad’s building. “They have triangulated on (Johnson’s) front door,” Goodman said.

Johnson, Smith and Wells “are scared” because “the gang from Youngstown is in the parking lot. They got them on FaceTime. They see that these guys are in the parking lot. And they decide ‘Let’s do this and get these guys out of the parking lot,'” Goodman said.

They left the apartment, went up the stairs, “And as soon as (Smith) opens the door, the shooting starts.” Goodman said he believes the evidence shows that the police recovered “multiple shell casings all over that parking lot, not just in front of (Johnson’s) front door.”

Goodman said the video shows McKinney “from his hiding place with a line of sight to the front door pull out his gun and fire shots. You will see other members of the Youngstown guys, the Youngstown gang, pull out their guns and shoot over the hood of the car.”

Goodman said Smith fired his gun a couple of times and went back down the stairs. As the door slowly closed, Johnson fired a couple of times, and “runs,” Goodman said. It took three to four seconds, he said. There was a bullet hole in the glass door, Goodman said.

Goodman said Johnson’s home was “under attack, and he had the right to defend it.” As for who fired first, Goodman said, “I would submit that when your home is under attack, you don’t have to wait for the bad guy to shoot first.”

Goodman said he thinks the “Youngstown gang started firing first. Maybe (Smith) fired second. Maybe they fired at the same time.” He said it’s clear that Johnson did not fire first.