Friends Tristan McClain and Demarco Banks were hanging out in Gonzalez Court in March of 2024 when they made the fateful decision to go to the home of Gerald Wilson, whom the community loving deems “Uncle G.”
Over the next hour, the teenagers were allegedly approached twice by two figures in ski masks before Banks was fatally shot on Wilson’s porch.
Two years later, now 16-year-old Remington Crumbs is on trial, charged with second-degree murder with a firearm.
And on Wednesday, July 15, McClain finally told the story on what he said happened that night.
As McClain, then 17, and Banks, 15, began to walk toward Wilson’s house, they were approached by two figures wearing a ski mask. McClain told the jury that one of them “asked me what my name was.”
McClain offered a fake name, while Banks didn’t respond, and the two masked individuals left. However, once the friends made it to Wilson’s home and were standing on the front porch, the two masked figures returned, McClain said.
“He said, ‘Do you remember when you jumped me and my brother,'” McClain recalled, speaking of the hooded figure later identified as Crumbs. “He didn’t let Demarco answer. He just shot him.”
Wilson testified that he met with McClain and Banks and turned to go back inside his home when the gunshot rang out, but that he never saw anyone approach the home.
Assistant State Attorney Erin Ambrose told the jury that additional witnesses in the area offered descriptions that fit Crumbs and the second individual later identified as Rumariya Union, who was charged as an accessory after the fact, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2025.
Although the state contends Crumbs appeared behind Banks and fatally shot him while wearing a ski mask, Crumbs himself took the stand to offer a starkly different story of what happened the night Banks died. The 16-year-old on trial claimed he was alone, not with Union, and was in fear of his life when Banks punched him in the face.
“TJ (Tristan) and Marco (Demarco) asked me who I was, and I told them ‘Lil Remy,'” Crumbs said from the stand. “Then, they both ran up and Marco punched me, and out of reflex I shot him.
“I was in fear for my life,” he quickly added. “I got jumped multiple times by these people.”
Crumbs said he was incessantly bullied by Banks and had even received a black eye from a previous encounter with him. That night, Crumbs said he shot Banks next to Wilson’s house as he was attempting to walk back home from the park.
Crumbs also claimed Wilson was never outside, going against Wilson’s own testimony.
After he shot Banks, Crumbs said he walked to his grandmother’s house where she called law enforcement and Crumbs was promptly arrested.
When Ambrose cross-examined Crumbs, the teenager’s testimony grew emotional to the point presiding Judge Amy Brodersen had to excuse the jury from the courtroom to allow Crumbs to compose himself.
Although Crumbs said he accepted the firearm from friend Rumariya Union “for protection,” when Ambrose asked why that specific night he obtained the gun, Crumbs responded, “I don’t know.”
“I done told you so many times, I don’t know. You keep trying to blame me like I’m some, like I’m some menace or something,” Crumbs said before Brodersen interrupted and excused the jury.
With vastly different stories presented during the trial, the jury will decide which version they find credible and whether the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt Crumbs committed second-degree murder.
The trial will reconvene Thursday morning when the attorneys are scheduled to give their closing arguments before the jury deliberates.
Benjamin Johnson is the breaking news, crime and military reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He covers local law enforcement, courts, breaking news and military within Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. He can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Teen claims self-defense; murder trial witness says he was aggressor
Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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By Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
