Testimony reveals gang beef led to 14-year-old's shooting on Cherry Street in Erie

Shootings two days apart in early February that damaged a house in one Erie neighborhood and wounded a teenager in another stemmed from a beef between members of rival city gangs, two people charged in the crimes testified on Wednesday afternoon.

The target in both cases was one member of a rival gang. But the house that was shot up in the 300 block of Poplar Street on Feb. 6 wasn't where the target lived, and the person who was shot on Cherry Street near Erie High School on Feb. 8 was a 14-year-old boy, according to testimony presented at a lengthy preliminary hearing.

Erie police have charged five people in the Poplar Street shooting and four in the Cherry Street shooting. According to the testimony, all had a connection with the 2-5, a gang from the area of East 25th and German streets.

The target of the shooting was reportedly affiliated with Pop or Pop Block, a gang from the Poplar Street area, the testimony revealed.

More: Erie police search for more suspects in shooting that wounded 14-year-old on Cherry Street

Two charged in both crimes, 21-year-old Anfernee K. Graves and 21-year-old Elijah R. Ward, provided the main testimony for prosecutors during the preliminary hearing for their co-defendants: Kremeer K. Thompson, 18, and Jamaica A. Boyd, 20, who are charged in both shootings; and Saron D. Tate, 22, who is charged in the Poplar Street shooting.

Graves and Ward each waived their criminal cases to court before testifying Wednesday afternoon, Assistant District Attorney Jeremy Lightner said. Erie 1st Ward District Judge Sue Mack held Thompson, Boyd and Tate for court on the charges they face following the hearing.

More: Erie police accuse 18-year-old of being triggerman in Cherry Street shooting that hurt boy

Gang violence and a target

The supposed gang affiliations connected to the two shootings were revealed for the first time during Wednesday's preliminary hearing. The incidents are the latest that authorities have said involved shootings and other violent crime in Erie among people with suspected connections to reported gangs.

According to police and testimony in previous court hearings, reported gang affiliations were believed to have been connected to such Erie crimes as the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy in December 2020; the assault and stabbing of two men at a downtown Erie nightclub in April 2021; the shooting, stabbing and attempted murder of an Erie man in a North East Township cemetery in December 2021; a shooting into a crowd of people at a birthday party that did not injure anyone in May 2022; and the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old boy in April 2022.

Lightner, in his closing argument at the end of the nearly five-hour preliminary hearing on Wednesday afternoon, said the two February shootings were the result of suspects who were "hunting a child over a week in February."

Lawyers for Thompson, Boyd and Tate all argued that sufficient evidence was not presented at the hearing to connect their clients to the shootings, and they questioned the believability of the at-times contradictory testimony of Graves and Ward.

More: Bogus stolen auto report leads Erie police to charge 3rd suspect in Cherry Street shooting

Graves and Ward both testified that, on the evening of Feb. 6, the group had gone to a hotel off Peach Street in Summit Township to shoot a music video, and that guns were present at the hotel.

After the group left the hotel, each said that Thompson got into a phone conversation with another person, whom Graves said is in Pop Block. When asked by Lightner what they were talking about, Graves said it was about "settling their differences with guns."

The group traveled to the area of West Second and Poplar Streets, where Graves and Ward said Thompson and Boyd eventually got out of the car and went through some back yards. Ward testified that he and Tate got out of the car 2 minutes later, and before they could catch up with the other two he heard gunshots, "too many to count."

The group then got back into the car and left the area, according to the testimony.

The man whose house was shot up testified that he was home when numerous bullets came through windows, walls, paneling and doors in his house. He said the shooting sounded like a war zone, and he had no idea why someone was shooting up his house.

An Erie police detective testified later in the hearing that the house, which was occupied by two people at the time of the shooting, is next door to the residence of the person the group was reportedly targeting.

Police recovered nine .357-caliber shell casings and 16 .223 rifle cartridges at the shooting scene, the detective testified.

More: Erie teen charged as adult in house shooting police say related to Cherry Street incident

Cherry Street shootout

On the afternoon of Feb. 8, Graves said he drove Thompson, Ward and Boyd to the Millcreek Mall in his mother's Kia. After leaving the mall, Graves said the group drove around and eventually wound up in the area of West 29th and Cherry streets, which he said is another place Pop Block hangs out. School at Erie High, which is in the neighborhood, had just let out, he said.

According to Graves' testimony, Thompson said he had seen someone and asked Boyd to let him see a gun. He said Thompson was given a gun, which he pointed at a group of kids and started shooting.

Graves said he saw someone fall.

A 14-year-old boy was struck in the back near his neck in the shooting, another Erie police detective testified.

Graves testified that the group outside the car started shooting back and running away, and as he drove away from the scene he got into a traffic accident at West 29th and Cherry streets. He said they eventually fled the area and he left the Kia in the area of East 25th and Holland streets.

Graves said he is not a member of 2-5, and he said under cross-examination that Boyd was also not a member of the gang.

Ward admitted under cross-examination following his testimony that he is a member of 2-5.

Others charged and witness intimidation

Also charged by Erie police in the Cherry Street shootout were Orguna L. Sanders Jr., 20, and Shamad Page, 15. Both were among the group outside the car when the shootout occurred, according to Erie police.

A third city police detective testified Wednesday that six people were in the area when shots were fired from the Kia.

Sanders waived a third-degree felony count of carrying a firearm without a license to court at his Feb. 23 preliminary hearing, and he pleaded guilty to the charge on April 28. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 13, according to online court records.

Page waived charges including felony counts of aggravated assault, carrying a firearm without a license and criminal mischief to court at his preliminary hearing Feb. 23. His case is scheduled for trial in July, according to court records.

More: Erie man, 15-year-old waive charges in shootout on Cherry Street that wounded 14-year-old

Erie police on April 3 charged Thompson with felony witness intimidation and a misdemeanor count of obstructing the administration of law, accusing him of trying to get the 14-year-old boy shot on Cherry Street to state that he did not see Thompson at the shooting scene.

More: Cherry Street shooting suspect accused of trying to get victim to give false statement

Thompson waived those charges to court April 28, according to online court records.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Testimony reveals gang beef in shooting that hurt 14-year-old in Erie