OAKLAND — When 17-year-old Torian Hughes tried to fight off an armed teenager who tried to rob him, he was shot at the direction of another assailant, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
“This did not have to happen,” prosecutor Tim Wagstaffe told the jury in his opening statements. “You all could have been here for unlawful possession of a firearm…or an armed robbery. You are not. You are here for a murder trial.”
Shiheim Johnson, 22, of Vallejo, was charged with murder in the fatal shooting of Hughes at 1:40 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2015 in the 900 block of Mandela Parkway.
Oakland Councilwoman Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who considers Hughes like a grandson, sat in the second row of the trial Tuesday morning, at times wiping away tears when the attorneys described the assault that led to his death that day.
A 15-year-old-boy also has been charged with Hughes’ murder. Both the prosecution and the defense agree he was the actual shooter.
Hughes had gone to Mandela Parkway to buy a gun for protection after having been attacked in the past, the prosecutor said. His cousin, who had just turned 16, knew someone and they arranged to meet that day; Hughes had cash on him for the purchase.
But when they arrived, the two teens were confronted by a couple of armed people. Johnson pointed a gun at the head of Hughes’ cousin and said: “Don’t move or I’ll kill you,” Wagstaffe said. The 15-year-old’s gun was pointed at Hughes, who started throwing punches. At that point, Johnson said “shoot that man” repeatedly, according to Wagstaffe.
Hughes was shot in the back, with the bullet going through his stomach and resting in his arm. Police body camera footage shown to the jury depicted officers arriving on the scene and trying to apply pressure to the wound; his cousin stood nearby crying.
But Johnson’s defense attorney, Omid Khalinaji stated in his opening arguments that Hughes’ cousin was not a credible witness.
“This case is about unreliability,” he said.
He contended the cousin first told police he didn’t know who the second suspect was and had never seen him. But later he was able to identify him in photos from his birthday party the day before, which Johnson and the alleged the shooter had attended.
Khalinaji asked the jury to find his client not guilty on all counts except one, illegal possession of a firearm. Johnson had previously been convicted of a robbery as a juvenile and was not allowed to possess a gun. Police found him in possession when he was arrested in January 2016.
The trial continues this week before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Rhonda Burgess.