Teen takes stand in hearing for fatal drive-by shooting

One of three people who are charged in a fatal drive-by shooting testified Tuesday for the prosecution and implicated one co-defendant as the shooter and another as the driver.
Antonio Wells said at a preliminary hearing that he had “grown up with” the victims of a Sept. 7 shooting episode.

He said he didn’t know who was in the car that carried the victims at the time the shots were fired.

“After I found out who it was, I felt bad,” Wells said. “I was sick.”

At the hearing, Tulsa County Special Judge David Youll ordered Wells; Vincent “Venom” Berry, 19; and Rashad Easley, 20, each held for trial on five felonies — one count of first-degree murder and four counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Police said five teenagers were in a car when someone in another car opened fire on them on North Cincinnati Avenue shortly before
2 p.m. Donivan Crutcher, 16, was fatally injured. His brother, Adrion Crutcher, was paralyzed from his injuries.

Jeremy Williams lost an eye and the use of an arm. Jahmal Bryant continues to heal from a gunshot wound.

Another occupant of their car, Victor Bell, was the only victim who testified Tuesday. Bell, 17, said his upper arm was grazed.

Lawyers agreed to accept, without actual testimony, a summary of what Williams, Bryant and Adrion Crutcher would say regarding their wounds.

Wells, 19, of Broken Arrow, said that days before this shooting, Easley was shot in the stomach and “wanted some get back” because of that shooting.

Police have said the shooting that claimed the life of Donivan Crutcher and injured his companions was a case of mistaken identity and that the Sept. 7 shooter mistakenly thought he was firing at gang rivals.

Wells testified that he is not in a gang, but he said Berry belongs to a gang.

Wells indicated that on Sept. 7, he, Berry and Easley were at a Tulsa residence and that a red car kept driving by. He said he had brought an SKS rifle — with a loaded 37-round magazine — to that residence.

Wells said the three went to a convenience store near Cincinnati and Pine Street and were getting ready to pull out when a red car passed by.

“We said, 'There they go,’?” Wells testified. With Easley driving, the defendants went back to the residence, where Berry got the rifle, Wells said.

They drove back to Cincinnati and saw a red car occupied by “a lot of people,” he testified. “It wasn’t the same car,” Wells said. “We thought it was the same one.”

With Wells in the passenger seat and Berry in the back seat, Easley sped up the Mercury Marquis and caught up with a red Chevrolet Caprice, Wells indicated.

He said he heard 11 or 12 gunshots and saw Berry — with a back window down — firing at the red car.

Berry fired two more shots through the red car’s front windshield, and that vehicle “hit the wall,” Wells said.

Police said previously that the car crashed into a concrete roadway divider.

Wells testified that he did not fire the gun that day.

He indicated that he does not have a deal with prosecutors in exchange for his testimony. Wells said he cooperated after learning who had gotten shot and that “it only felt right to do what’s right.”

Wells seeks to get consideration based on his cooperation, his attorney, Chad Greer, indicated. All three defendants remain in jail.