Marlon Gibson stepped out of his Akron apartment to have a cigarette and was shot in the neck by Christopher Hunter.
Gibson stumbled to the door of his apartment, but Hunter shot him again in the back. Gibson continued to try to get away. Hunter kept shooting until Gibson lay face down on the floor of his bedroom.
Inside the apartment, with a front row seat for the bloody scene, were Diamond Christian and her three young children, two fathered by Gibson and the other by Hunter.
This was the sad love-triangle story that Summit County prosecutors shared with jurors Wednesday morning during the start of Hunter’s trial for the murder of Gibson, 24, on May 25 at an Edmeyer Court apartment.
Hunter, 27, of Akron, who has no prior criminal record, is charged with aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault, aggravated burglary and receiving stolen property. Police say the 9 mm pistol he used in the shooting was stolen. Several of the charges include gun specifications.
The trial in Summit County Common Pleas Judge Todd McKenney’s courtroom is expected to conclude Thursday.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys don’t dispute that Hunter shot Gibson — Hunter admitted this to police. What they do disagree on is why he did it.
Assistant Prosecutor Kassim Ahmed told jurors in his opening statement that Hunter went to the apartment to see Christian and became enraged when Gibson told him he couldn’t. He said Hunter went to his car, came back with a 9 mm pistol and shot Gibson. He said Gibson was unarmed and was incapacitated after the first shot, but Hunter continued firing his pistol until he was out of bullets.
“Marlon looks up at him and he fires several more final gun shots, emptying out the clip, emptying out his rage,” Ahmed said.
Kerry O’Brien, however, one of Hunter’s attorneys, said Hunter didn’t go to the apartment intending to harm anyone. He said he went there to see Christian and their 2-year-old daughter.
“Did he go over there to kill somebody? No,” O’Brien said. “Things spun horribly out of control.”
Christian, 23, was the first witness to testify. She became emotional as soon as she sat in the witness chair, trying to keep from crying.
Christian said she and Hunter were together for about a year, but, for her, the relationship ended when she reunited with Gibson. She said Hunter didn’t want their relationship to end and told her mother that he would “do anything for her.”
She said Hunter regularly saw his daughter and sometimes gave her money to help pay bills.
Christian said she was watching television with her three children when Hunter, who wasn’t expected, knocked on the door shortly after 11 p.m. When she saw who it was, she asked Gibson not to open the door. Gibson instead opened the door and told Hunter that he couldn’t see Christian. Hunter tried to force his way in, but Gibson forced the door shut.
Christian said Gibson, who had been wearing only boxers, went back to his room, got on some clothes and said he was going to smoke a cigarette. She said she told him, “Don’t start any trouble.”
Christian heard a gunshot and then saw Gibson fall through the apartment door, bleeding. She said he said to her, “Call the police,” and then she saw Hunter shoot Gibson in the back.
Christian called 911 and watched as Hunter continued to fire bullets at the fleeing Gibson.
Prosecutors played Christian’s 911 call. Christian, sobbing, begged the dispatcher, “Can you please hurry up? Oh my God, he killed my baby dead! He’s dead!”
Hearing the call, Christian cried on the witness stand.
After the shooting, Christian said, Hunter fled but was stopped by police.
Christian broke down into sobs when Ahmed asked her to identify and explain photographs of her apartment that were taken after the shooting.
O’Brien asked Christian if Hunter sometimes worried about her. She said he did.
O’Brien asked her if Gibson could sometimes be “a hothead.” She said he could.
Hunter has several family members and friends sitting in on the trial, including his grandmother and father.
Olive M. Jackson, Hunter’s grandmother, said her grandson was always a good boy and had never gotten into trouble in the past. She said he changed after the death of his mother in 2004 and had taken to drinking too much, which he was doing on the day of the shooting.
Jackson said she doesn’t think her grandson went to Christian’s apartment intending to harm anyone.
“When he got there, things changed,” she said. “I don’t know what was said.”
Jackson is hoping her grandson gets 10 years or less for the shooting.
“He don’t need to be in prison,” she said, tears streaming down her face behind her glasses. “I’m praying someone will step up and take him under his wing and don’t other guys mess with him.”
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or on Twitter:@swarsmithabj.