Opening statements began April 28 in the trial of three men who allegedly took part in a violent 2023 crime spree that saw two people shot, including a Tallahassee police officer who nearly died at the scene.
John’Darious Wright, 28, Rahyim Sanders, 28, and Tyrell Guinnie, 29, all are charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shooting of Caleb Babb, then a rookie officer with the Tallahassee Police Department, and another man who got shot at during a home invasion robbery.
Wright, the alleged gunman in the shooting of Babb, also is charged with two counts of attempted premeditated murder for allegedly shooting and injuring one young man while he slept and firing at but missing his father.
Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman told jurors during opening arguments that the crime spree, which unfolded at two different scenes in the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 2023, impacted “multiple victims.”
In addition to the officer and the other man who were shot, several people were fired at but somehow avoided getting hit as bullets whizzed past them ― something she compared at one point to a famous scene in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.”
“It’s an absolute miracle that no one died in this case,” she said.
The first shooting happened shortly before 1 a.m. at the home of a family that resided not far from a convenience store they own and operate on Springhill Road, Cappleman said. The family lived in a quiet, working class area, had no problems with customers or known enemies and didn’t engage in any high risk-behavior.
A man kicked in their back door and made his way to a bedroom, where he shot one of the sons in the face while he slept. The father woke up and encountered the suspect, who fired multiple shots at “pretty close range” but missed.
The son, who was shot in the cheek but sitting up and talking when police arrived, didn’t see who shot him. His father couldn’t provide much of a description of the gunman, who wore a Spider-Man style mask.
“(The victim) was taken to the hospital where he was taken into surgery, the first of many surgeries that he would endure throughout the process of his recovery,” Cappleman said.
‘He almost dies out there’: Police officer responds
Cappleman told jurors that the second shooting happened an hour later and 10 miles across town on Sandpiper Street. A man and a girlfriend were hanging out when they heard banging on the door. There was weed inside but the man didn’t know the defendants or sell to them, the prosecutor added.
“But we do know that at 2:21 a.m., two armed suspects kick in his door and start shooting,” she told jurors. “First thing they do, just like at the other house, start shooting.”
The suspects fired at the man but missed after he peeked out of his bedroom door to see what was happening. At another point, the suspects heard the woman call 911 and said “let’s get out of here,” Cappleman continued.
Babb, the first officer to arrive, saw a white Toyota Corolla driving away and read the tag number over police radio. Cappleman said he chased Sanders after he exited the residence but that something caught his attention as he passed an open doorway to his left.
“Wright pops out,” she said. “He’s carrying bags of the victim’s clothing in one hand and a firearm in the other.”
Cappleman said Wright was wearing a red bandanna as a mask, not unlike the one seen in the earlier shooting, a white T-shirt and white tennis shoes.
“When the defendant Wright sees Babb, he aims his weapon and he fires, striking the officer in his right hip area, severing his femoral artery, which, as you know, is very vital to our survival,” she told the jury. “Babb returns fire but he does not hit the suspect.”
She said Babb’s leg was “completely saturated” in blood and tried to get a tourniquet to stop the bleeding himself.
“Fortunately some other officers come to his assistance because he’s not doing a very good job of saving himself,” she said. “He is given some aid there at the scene. He does require CPR there at the scene. It’s bad. He almost dies out there.”
Babb had “six surgeries and counting” to repair the damage to his leg, Cappleman said. He remains on the force to this day.
Public defender: ‘Very little direct evidence’
All three suspects got away, though Cappleman said they left behind evidence linking them to the crimes. The car seen driving away belonged to Wright’s mom. Phone records put Guinnie at the scene of both crimes.
She said Wright accidentally slipped out of his right tennis shoe, a size 12 Jordan, while shooting at Babb. The shoe matched Wright’s DNA and a shoe print left at the first shooting scene, she added.
Attorneys for all three defendants, who took turns delivering their opening statements, either downplayed or outright denied their involvement.
Charles Lammers, a public defender representing Wright, spoke for only two minutes but said he would have “a lot more to say” later in the trial. He told jurors that DNA evidence was not “as definitive” as described by the state.
“There will be nobody that says that Mr. Wright was the person that was involved because the evidence is all circumstantial,” he said.
Craig Brown, a Tallahassee attorney representing Sanders, said he was “rightfully” not charged with any crime involving the first shooting because he “did not have anything to do” with it. He said Sanders was visiting from Gainesville and went to buy pot when the shooting occurred.
“He was over there to purchase this marijuana … and be about his business,” he said.
Assistant Public Defender Miranda Sullivan told jurors that the case involves circumstantial evidence that the state will present as “bits and pieces” through law enforcement witnesses who investigated. She said prosecutors will ask jurors to put the “puzzle pieces” together to match their own picture of the crime.
“But you’re not going to have a whole lot of glue to put those pieces together with because that’s the nature of circumstantial evidence,” she said. “And there is very little direct evidence in this case.”
Leon Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom is presiding over the trial, which is expected to last through Thursday or Friday.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: “He almost dies’: Trial begins for 3 charged in TPD officer shooting
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
