On the fifth day of Cyrus Ellerbe’s trial, jurors heard testimony from a man who was shot at the scene of the double murder.
Isaiah Sykes, 20, was shot in the arm and spent about a week in the hospital recovering from surgery. A bullet also grazed his side.
Sykes testified Tuesday that he was dating 18-year-old Brandon Collins, who was shot during a Halloween party at an Airbnb on Ferndale Road on the evening of Oct. 27. Jarmel Boyd, 17, was also killed.
The 23-year-old Ellerbe is charged with six counts of murder, eight counts of grievous bodily harm, firing a firearm on or near prohibited grounds and possession of several firearms.
Sykes testified that he was friends with Collins. He said his mother brought them both to the party.
He told Nik Buckmeier, Richland County Assistant District Attorney, that he didn’t have a bad feeling when he entered the Airbnb.
“It was cool,” Sykes said.
Sykes said he was in the hallway with Collins and others. He was trying to reach his girlfriend.
“It was just intense”
Sykes said the lights and music went out, followed by gunshots. He testified that he did not see who fired the shots, but both he and Collins were hit.
“I saw him get shot,” Sykes said.
He fought his way into a back bedroom and dragged Collins inside. At this point, Collins was still breathing.
Buckmeier played police bodycam footage from the crime scene. Sykes was almost on top of Collins, sobbing for his friend.
Sykes sat on the witness stand and did not watch the video. He, too, was in pain that night as a police officer applied a tourniquet to his injured arm.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Josh Brown, Sykes testified that he had never owned a gun and could not remember ever trying to buy one.
Brown then posted an invitation to a birthday party for Sykes. The witness appeared to be holding a gun, but Sykes said it was a prop.
Two other people who were at the party also took the stand. Sylas Miller said he, his younger brother and about eight to 10 others, including Ellerbe and co-defendant Edonnez Williams, were present.
“We just went in to test the mood,” Miller said. “It was just intense.”
Another witness described the “intense” atmosphere at the party
Miller said he felt people staring at him. He and some of his companions went back outside to smoke marijuana.
“Two or three minutes pass, I start running,” he said after hearing the shots.
Miller said people were shooting from the corner of the house, but he didn’t see who they were. He ran to his younger brother’s car.
Miller testified that both Ellerbe and Williams fired shots from the car. He said he did not see Ellerbe with a gun earlier that evening, nor did he see anyone give him a gun.
Under cross-examination, Miller said he agreed to go to the party because he thought it was in Lexington, adding that he “didn’t really associate with people from Mansfield” because of what happened at the Airbnb.
Brown asked Miller about the differences between his two statements to police. In his first interview, Miller told police that no one in his group had weapons.
Five days later, Miller gave a second statement to investigators, saying social media posts identified him and his younger brother as the shooters.
“We wanted to clear our names,” he said.
Brown asked him about advice he had previously received from his mother.
“Pick one first,” she told him.
In the replay, Miller said Boyd had a gun at the party, but no one pointed a gun at him or his group.
A 17-year-old girl who rented the Airbnb for two nights using her debit card but her mother’s ID also testified Tuesday. The News Journal is not naming her because she is a minor.
“I told my mom it was just going to be friends (no party),” the teen said. “I wasn’t as honest as I should have been.”
Girl said 2 groups at the party made her feel uncomfortable
She described two groups of people at the party and said she felt uncomfortable. Her boyfriend wanted to end the party.
They were in a back bedroom when she went to get a bottle of water from the kitchen. She said as she walked through the house, the two groups were watching her.
The 17-year-old said that a few minutes after she returned to the bedroom, shots were fired.
“It was one thing after another,” said the girl.
Her boyfriend tried to hold the door closed, but several people forced their way in, including Sykes and Collins.
She said she did not see anyone shooting, but people who entered the room threw “at least five” handguns onto the bed.
The final witness in an abbreviated court hearing was Mansfield Police Detective Terry Butler, who testified that on the day of the party, a county man reported the theft of a gun that was later recovered from the crime scene.
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