Man held for trial in Popeyes lot shooting
Markese Martin also is considered a person of interest in the September shooting death of a pregnant woman.
MARKESE MARTIN - considered a "person of interest" in the September shooting death of a pregnant woman - was held for trial yesterday on murder charges in another victim's death.
Martin, 26, will face trial on murder, robbery, conspiracy and weapons charges in the Sept. 23, 2014, shooting death of Kenneth Woods, 42, who was gunned down in a Popeyes parking lot on Broad Street near Roosevelt Boulevard in Hunting Park.
He also is considered a person of interest in the shooting death of Jasmine Williams, 25, who was eight months' pregnant when she was gunned down on Nedro Avenue near 16th Street in Ogontz, shortly before 1 a.m. Sept. 24, just hours after Woods was killed. Williams and her baby died at Einstein Medical Center.
Williams' boyfriend and the father of her baby, Kord Rozier, was shot and injured alongside her.
To make things a little more complicated, Rozier, 26, participated in the robbery that ended in Woods' death.
On Monday, Rozier and another accomplice in the robbery - Megan Jones, 21, of Blue Bell - pleaded guilty in separate hearings before Common Pleas Judge Lillian Ransom to charges of third-degree murder, conspiracy and robbery in Woods' death.
Yesterday, Rozier was the sole prosecution witness called by Assistant District Attorney Carlos Vega at Martin's preliminary hearing in Woods' murder.
As Rozier sat at the witness stand, he and Martin, who are both in custody and wore similar long-sleeved, white thermal shirts, glared at each other.
Rozier testified that on Sept. 23, he, Jones, Martin and two others - "Randall" and "Bunky" - met in front of Rozier's house on Price Street in East Germantown. They planned to rob some men, whom Jones knew, of Percocet pills.
Asked by Vega what roles they were going to play in the robbery, Rozier testified: "Markese had the gun. I was going to drive . . . Megan played the middleman."
He said that he, Martin and "Bunky" followed Jones by car to the Popeyes. He and Martin went inside the restaurant while Jones spoke to three men in a Jeep.
Jones then texted Martin to let him know the men she was talking to had the pills, Rozier said.
Martin then went to the Jeep's passenger side and said, "Give that s--- up," Rozier testified.
Rozier said he went to the driver's side of the Jeep. After the driver got out, he and the driver - Woods - started fighting.
That's when, Rozier said, he heard two shots, "pop, pop."
Martin, Rozier testified, then ran to the driver's side of the Jeep and shot Woods in the chest.
"I saw the bullet hit right under his heart," Rozier testified.
Rozier said that he and Martin then fled back to their car and that "Bunky" drove away.
"I was like shooken up," Rozier testified. "I said, 'Why you shot him?' He [Martin] said, 'I had to.' "
Rozier said that on the drive back to his house, Martin showed them the pills he took from the Jeep, noting that they were fake.
Woods, shot about 4 p.m., was pronounced dead at a hospital about 90 minutes later.
Municipal Judge Patrick Dugan held Martin, of Godfrey Avenue near 17th Street in Ogontz, for trial on all charges in Woods' slaying and on robbery charges on all three men in the Jeep.
Rozier was not asked by Vega to testify about the events that happened hours later when Rozier and Williams were shot.
Vega said after the hearing that he couldn't comment on Williams' murder or on whether "Bunky" or "Randall" would be charged in the robbery or in Woods' murder. The other two robbery victims, who were with Woods, were not shot, he said.
