One day last September, Kareem Tillar got down on one knee and asked Ebony Booker to marry him. It was Booker's birthday, and she accepted his proposal.
On that same day, a friend of Booker's, Jamel Cobb, posted a birthday wish on her Facebook page, Booker testified Monday in a Richmond courtroom.
Three days later, according to witnesses, Tillar accosted Cobb in the Fairfield Court public housing complex in the city's East End and said something like, "What was that stuff you said on Facebook to my girl?" Ultimately, Tillar shot Cobb in the back, fatally wounding him.
It took a Richmond Circuit Court jury about 20 minutes on Monday to find Tillar, 21, guilty of second-degree murder and a related firearm charge in Cobb's death. The 19-year-old victim has been described as a good kid and a mentor for young members of the Fairfield Boys and Girls Club.
After finding Tillar guilty, jurors were dismissed for the evening. They are expected to return this morning for the sentencing phase of the case.
The defendant testified that he accidentally discharged the weapon while he and Cobb struggled, but two witnesses testified for the prosecution that there had been no such tussle.
The witnesses, both of whom are teenage girls who were friends with Cobb, testified that they were walking with Cobb in the 2100 block of Newbourne Street about 5:45 p.m. when Tillar confronted him.
Prosecutor Christopher Jones said that Tillar, as he was approaching Cobb, told residents, "Get your kids in the house," a statement Jones called a "proclamation of premeditation."
Cobb swatted at the gun that had been put to his head, according to the girls' testimony, and both Cobb and Tillar started to walk away when Tillar turned and fired one shot. Cobb ran a short distance before he collapsed. Police found him facedown in blood and pronounced him dead at 5:56 p.m.
"This was just cold-blooded murder in the middle of our streets," Jones said.
One of the girls, 16, broke down during cross-examination by defense attorney John W. Luxton. "You're asking too many questions," the girl blurted out, bursting into tears. "He shouldn't have shot at him. Ain't nothing else to it."
Tillar testified that he was a small-time marijuana dealer and carried a gun for protection, adding that he had been robbed about two weeks before his encounter with Cobb. The defendant denied knowing anything about Cobb's posting on Booker's Facebook page, but he said Cobb had sent Facebook messages to Tillar calling him disparaging names.
Tillar said he was walking to visit the neighborhood "cigarette lady," who sells three cigarettes for $1, when he came across Cobb.
"I asked him why did he call me a punk on Facebook," Tillar testified. He said Cobb replied, "You is a punk."
The defendant claimed he was pushed and that the two started struggling, adding that Cobb was bigger and that Tillar only has one good hand, the other having been injured weeks earlier when he stuck it under a running lawn mower. Tillar said he pointed the gun at Cobb to protect himself and that Cobb grabbed the top of the weapon.
"He pushed me again and I fell back and the gun went off," Tillar said.
Sentencing is set to start at 10 this morning. The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is 40 years in prison.
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