Des Moines murder trial opens with claims man shot up apartment because of 'bruised ego'
It's very clear to investigators how Jeffrey Gillom died: Someone stood outside the Des Moines apartment where he was staying and fired 15 rifle bullets through the door, striking him repeatedly.
The only question is, who fired those shots?
Police have charged Tyrone Cameron, 29, with committing the April 3 shooting at the Hickman Flats apartments, southwest of the intersection of Hickman Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, and his trial began with jury selection Monday.
In opening statements Tuesday, prosecutors said Cameron shot up the apartment, killing the 59-year-old Gillom and wounding another occupant, because he was stewing over an earlier argument that ended with Gillom slapping him.
"A bruised ego has led to senseless violence," prosecutor Michael Salvner told the jury. "The defendant let his ego lead him down a path where he got a gun and used that gun and shot and killed another man, and injured other people."
Defense attorneys, though, say there is no physical or forensic evidence connecting Cameron to the shooting, and plenty of reason to believe someone else may have committed the crime.
"There were no less than nine people inside that apartment when shots rang out, and there was a lot of conflict going on not only between the people within that apartment, but with people going in and out of that building through critical times of day around when the shooting was occurring," attorney Jessica Millage said.
Prosecutors: Clothing in car tied suspect to shooting
Cameron was arrested five days after the shooting. The murder weapon was never found. Salvner said the key to the case was Cameron's car, which broke down as he was leaving the scene, and in which investigators found clothing they connected to the crime.
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In the first day of testimony, however, prosecutors focused on the shooting itself. Jurors heard the original 911 call summoning police to the scene and from a Des Moines crime scene investigator who walked them through the spent shell casings, blood stains and bullet scars dotting the apartment.
They also heard from Jennifer White, the person wounded in the shooting. White, who was also temporarily staying at the apartment, testified she'd seen "TY," or Cameron, leave the apartment with Gillom earlier in the evening, and Gillom returning alone. But on cross examination, she acknowledged she'd seen and heard other disputes among people coming and going at the apartment throughout the day.
White was caught by surprise that evening when gunfire began pouring through the door, striking her twice in the leg and foot. Another man in the apartment pushed her out of the line of fire, she said. When the shooting stopped and she looked up, Gillom was still in the chair where he'd been sitting.
"He looked at me, and he couldn’t talk, and then just fell off," she said, tearing up.
Gillom was struck five times in the legs and groin area. The fatal shot severed a major artery in his leg, causing massive bleeding, and he died after being rushed to a hospital. White required surgery to remove a bullet from her foot, and said she doesn't expect that injury to ever fully heal.
Prosecutors said they expect the parties to finish testimony and present closing arguments later this week. Cameron is charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder for in the shootings of Gillom and White, among other charges. If convicted of murder, he faces life in prison without parole.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com, 715-573-8166 or on Twitter at @DMRMorris.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines man on trial for murder in Hickman Road apartment shooting
