'The casualty of an act of violence': Murder trial begins in 15-year-old's fatal shooting

WEST PALM BEACH — From the witness stand Monday afternoon, Amber Hunter described the moments leading to the fatal shooting of her teenage cousin Makayla Dennard in December 2016.

Hunter described sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle parked on West 36th Street in Riviera Beach just days before Christmas as her 15-year-old cousin sat in the driver's seat. Then gunfire rang out, she told a jury during the first day of trial for two of the three men accused in Dennard's death.

Hunter was one of four witnesses who took the stand as prosecutors began presenting their case against the men they say were involved in a Dec. 23, 2016, drive-by shooting that killed Dennard and wounded another person.

A grand jury indicted Torrance Smith, now 24, and Walter Brooms, now 22, in 2017 on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. A third defendant, Tiyone Samuels, now 23, also was indicted on the same charges and is scheduled to have a jury trial in June. Smith was 18 when the shooting took place. Brooms and Samuels were juveniles.

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Dennard died two days after the shooting on the 1200 block of West 36th Street in Rivera Beach, just south of the Lake Park town line and just west of President Barack Obama Highway. The shooting also wounded Nikobra Stringer, then 20 and now 25.

In his opening remarks, Assistant State Attorney Reid Scott told jurors that Dennard was "the casualty of an act of violence" and "just happened to be in the line of fire."

"Makayla Dennard did nothing wrong," Scott said. "But Mr. Brooms and Mr. Smith killed her in a drive-by shooting. These defendants are guilty as charged."

Defense attorney Franklin Prince, who is representing Brooms, told jurors that Stringer fired first at a black Kia occupied by Brooms and Smith. He also argued that Dennard was killed by a bullet fired by someone who was standing across the street.

"The evidence is going to show that neither of these two young men shot her," Prince said. "Mr. Stringer fired at that Kia first and all his friends fired at that Kia."

Peter Grable, Smith's attorney, reserved his opening statement for the start of the defense's case.

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During her testimony, Hunter told the jury she traveled with Dennard and Stringer from a residence in West Palm Beach to the 36th Street address after Stringer suggested going there to get something to "smoke."

Hunter said that after they parked and waited for someone to exit a residence, she sat in the passenger seat, while Dennard sat in the driver's seat and Stringer stood outside the vehicle. Hunter said she was talking to people when gunshots rang out.

"I immediately put my head under the dashboard," she said. "I saw blood on my leg and Makayla's head drop down and looked up and saw a black Kia drive away."

Hunter said some men removed Dennard from the vehicle and placed her in a nearby yard, where police and paramedics found her. She broke down in tears as she described going to the hospital with Dennard, and again when a prosecutor showed her Dennard's photograph for identification.

Melvin Alexander, identified as the owner of the Kia, testified that Brooms had contacted him that evening and asked to be picked up because someone had shot at him. Alexander said he picked up two men and was directed to Riviera Beach, but was not aware of what the other men were planning.

He said that someone from within the Kia fired first as they approached the 1200 block of West 36th Street.

During the initial stages of the investigation, a witness told police they saw four men in a black Kia in moments before the shooting. The witness said some of the men were upset about being targeted in a shooting incident that day.

One person told investigators they saw Smith roll down a window and point a handgun in the direction of Stringer and Dennard. Prosecutors said the four Kia occupants exited the vehicle after it was disabled by return gunfire and broke down about three blocks west of the shooting scene.

The men were later seen running east on West 37th Street, prosecutors said. A Smith & Wesson .223-caliber assault rifle, a Glock .40-caliber semiautomatic firearm, and a .45-caliber semiautomatic firearm were found behind an apartment complex on 37th Street, police said.

The trial is expected to continue through the week before Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss.

Dennard's death was one of 87 confirmed homicides in Palm Beach County, and the last of 11 in Riviera Beach, during 2016, according to a Palm Beach Post online database.

jwhigham@pbpost.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Murder trial begins in 2016 death of 15-year-old Makayla Dennard