Kameron Tunstall, 19, who is charged with murder and felonious assault, is accused of conspiring with Hubbard, in the fatal shooting of Jaraius Gilbert Jr., a Wilson Middle School student, on the night of Aug. 29, 2018.
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A man shot several times in August 2018 when a 13-year-old boy was shot to death on South Front testified Wednesday in the trial of a man accused in the shootings.
And he didn’t want to be there.
Kameron Tunstall, 19, who is charged with murder and felonious assault, is accused of conspiring with a co-defendant, Miquan Hubbard, in the fatal shooting of Jaraius Gilbert Jr., a Wilson Middle School student, on the night of Aug. 29, 2018.
MORE: Hamilton teen trial: Witnesses testify about the night a 13-year-old was gunned down
Hubbard pleaded guilty in March to murder with a gun specification. Prosecutors say Hubbard, 19, of Village Street, is the shooter. They also allege Tunstall conspired with Hubbard and that Hubbard pulled the trigger.
Datorion Burns was also hit and suffered two wounds. On Tuesday, the jury was shown photos of Burns, who has recovered, in his hospital bed with closeups of the wounds. He was slated to take the stand but left the courthouse before being called.
Burns said Wednesday he was in the 800 block of Front Street at about 6:30 p.m. visiting with several people, including Gilbert.
“I heard two gunshots then I got up and ran,” Burns said.
Burns was struck twice and managed to get a block away. When asked if he talked to police while he was being treated or later at the hospital, Burns said “kind of, not really.”
Burns denied being part of the “Piru” Blood gang and said he was unaware red was the gang color. He was wearing a bright red sweatshirt while sitting in the witness stand.
Prosecutors and police say the shooting of Gilbert and Burns was part of an ongoing feud between two sects of the Blood gangs in Hamilton that has been part of gun violence dating back to a fatal shootout at the former Doubles bar in July 2016.
Lora Eisenberg testified she knows Tunstall as “Koby” and Hubbard as “Bally” and was closer to Hubbard in August 2018. On the night of Aug. 29, 2018, Tunstall, Hubbard and driver Jordan Schooler pulled up to a friend’s house. She walked outside to meet them.
Hubbard got out of the car and gave her two hooded sweatshirts, one black and one gray.
At the time, Eisenberg said she was not aware there had been a shooting on Front Street earlier in the day. When she learned of the shooting, she said she contacted Tunstall by Snapchat.
“Get rid of them,” she said Tunstall told her in the social media conversation.
Eisenberg said when police checked her phone, the Snapchat conversation was gone.
A 17-year-old Hamilton girl testified she had a relationship with Schooler and was friends with Tunstall and Hubbard. She said she took her father’s 9mm Glock at least twice and gave it to Tunstall, the first time because his house had been “shot up” and the second time because he had been shot.
The last time she gave the gun to Tunstall, she also provided an extended clip with bullets.
The jury was shown messages between the girl and her friend asking for the gun to be returned in August 2018. It was never returned.
The girl was asked about gang signs made by Hubbard and Tunstall and showed the jury some hand signs she has seen, noting they are signs of the “30” gang.
“Everybody does,” the girl said about displaying gang signs.
The jury was shown messages between the girl and Tunstall in which she asks him, “please step out of gang (expletive) … I don’t want to lose you.”
Tunstall responded, “I am my own gang.”
The jury was also shown an 8-second Snapchat video of Hubbard and Tunstall together “throwing” gang signs.
MORE: 3 Liberty Twp. teens charged after allegedly shooting out car windows
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