Champaign man accused in fatal shooting at pop-up party claims self-defense

Apr. 5—URBANA — Three women present at a pop-up party in Champaign last summer testified they saw Neilmyer Anderson shoot the man who was merely trying to act as a mediator in a verbal argument between strangers.

"Some dude nobody knew was trippin'. He started a bunch of BS, and now we're here," Ania Clark said of what prompted Anderson to shoot Oscar Mallett, 36, in the parking lot of a strip mall in the 700 block of North Neil Street on Aug. 27.

Anderson, 32, who listed his address as 70 E. Washington St., is representing himself on charges that he murdered Mr. Mallett.

Although Anderson initially told Champaign police he knew nothing of the shooting, in his opening statement to the jury Tuesday morning, he said "the evidence is going to show you a clear case of self-defense."

"He initiated this entire incident. He reached for his gun, leaving me with no choice but to defend myself," Anderson said.

Assistant State's Attorney Toby Ortega told the jury that there were about 30 to 50 people at the pop-up party outside One Stop Food & Liquor, 701 N. Neil St., around 3:30 a.m. that Saturday morning.

He said Mr. Mallet was trying to "defuse" an argument and was shot when he turned away from Anderson.

"We know Oscar Mallett had a gun. He falls to the ground and starts to draw. He (Mr. Mallett) gets off five shots," Ortega said, before Anderson fired another three.

Judge Adam Dill is presiding over the trial, which will likely wrap up Thursday.

Ortega began his case with the testimony of Mary Lee, one of the women in the parking lot who was at the heart of an exchange with a companion of Anderson's.

Lee said people had gathered there to talk and drink when two men she did not know approached the group of women she was with. She identified one of those men as Anderson. It was his companion, who was not identified other than as a man with dreads, who "started saying stuff and we started going back and forth," she said.

"He was talking smack, trying to be funny with people he didn't know," Clark said.

Lee described it as a "roasting session," typically a back-and-forth taunting between friends.

"He and I were going back and forth. He was really getting mad because I was really roasting him," Lee said of the man.

She admitted she was angry because the man's taunts directed at her and her female friends were unwelcome since none of them knew him, and she was unwilling to just walk away.

Lee testified, and Clark agreed, that Anderson merely stood by with a drink in his hand not saying anything or doing anything to rein in his friend.

Under questioning by Anderson, Lee testified that Mr. Mallett approached the other man to dissuade him from continuing to argue with Lee.

"Oscar told me to leave it alone and told you to get your homie," Lee said. "You were just standing there with a cup in your hand."

It was after Mr. Mallett addressed Anderson that three shots rang out and Mr. Mallet fell backward.

Pressed by Anderson on whether she saw Mr. Mallet's hand drop to his right side just before the shooting began, Lee said she did not see that.

"I did not see Oscar with a weapon. I did see an empty holster ... I believe on his right side," she said, after he was on the ground.

The jury saw several different video clips of the confrontation taken from each of the three businesses in the strip mall. On the videos, Anderson appears to fire three shots in quick succession, which were followed by several more shots in return, then Anderson shooting again before leaving in a car with the man with dreads.

Kaamilya Brown said she and her friend were about to leave the parking lot because of the argument, fearing that things "were about to get crazy."

"I heard the first shot and seen Oscar dropping to his knees and I seen the defendant shoot at him two more times," she said.

Brown sobbed as she identified a photograph of Mr. Mallett, who she said has a child with her sister.

Other testimony Tuesday came from police officers who were first on the scene, including Deputy Jeff Metzler, who said he was watching the pop-up party from a distance, heard shots and was in the parking lot within seconds rendering first aid to Mr. Mallett with the help of another woman.

Other officers testified about showing photo lineups to Lee and Clark, both of whom identified Anderson as the shooter.

Nate Epling, the crime-scene technician for the Champaign Police Department, testified about finding two separate sets of bullet casings in different sections of the parking lot, which he confirmed came from two different guns.

Detective Tim Rivest said he retrieved from Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana an empty holster that Mr. Mallett was wearing.

Detective James Hobson described how he went through data collected from automated license-plate readers to focus the investigation on the Chevrolet Impala that had been in the strip mall at the time of the shooting. Within hours of the shooting, Hobson determined the car was Anderson's and police began following it around town.

When Anderson and a man with him got out of the car and went into a Circle K store at Bradley and Lincoln avenues in Urbana, SWAT officers went in behind them while Hobson and another detective covered the back door. Anderson came out that back door and was quickly caught. Detectives found a loaded 9 mm handgun on him.

The jury saw a short video of Detective Steve Vogel's interrogation of Anderson, during which he said he had no knowledge of the shooting because he'd been drinking. He also said he didn't know the real name of the man who was arguing with Lee and said he had found the gun that was in his possession just the day before. He denied shooting Mr. Mallett.

Vogel testified that police believe Mr. Mallett had a gun but said "no video shows Oscar Mallet with a gun in his hand" prior to being shot.