More than two years after a mass shooting outside a Miami-Dade banquet hall left three people dead and 21 wounded, the trial for the man charged in connection with the shooting has begun.
Davonte Barnes, 24, is facing three counts of first-degree murder and 21 counts of attempted murder in the May 30, 2021 shooting outside the El Mula banquet hall.
Barnes was in a Miami-Dade courtroom Thursday as opening statements got underway.
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Video was also shown in court that depicted the chaos as people ran for cover during the gunfire. One of the victims who was shot three times but survived also gave emotional testimony.
“It was chaos. People scrambling. People on the floor and people yelling out peoples' names," Ka'dedra Thomas said.
Barnes isn't accused of firing any of the gunshots but police say he cased the crowd and alerted the three shooters when some of their targets – including a local rap artist - were among those outside the club, which was hosting a premiere party for another rap artist’s new album.
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Video shows a stolen Nissan Pathfinder pull up around the corner from the club, and three gunmen emerge, spraying the sidewalk with gunfire. A total of 99 shell casings fired from nine different firearms – including those of potential victims returning fire – were recovered from the scene.
Barnes was arrested first, in September 2021, followed two weeks later by Anthony Warneric Buckner, who police say confessed to being one of the gunmen and named the others involved.
But prosecutors found Buckner’s confession came after he repeatedly asked for a lawyer, and therefore would not have been allowed in court, so his charges were dismissed.
Although the charges were dropped against him, detectives used evidence from the El Mula shooting to charge Buckner in the Jan. 16, 2021 killing of 6-year-old Chassidy Saunders.
During opening statements, Barnes' defense attornet argued that the police methods to interrogate his client were also not done correctly.
“The evidence will show that the first over two hours of that statement for one reason or another, there’s no record of it," attorney Robert Barrar said.
