Windsor man says he shot to prevent mass shooting

Jun. 21—The man who is accused of firing shots that killed two men and seriously wounded a third on Albany Avenue in Hartford early on Sept. 23, 2017, admitted Monday that he fired the fatal shots, but denied firing the shots that wounded the third man.

SHOOTER TESTIFIES

DEFENDANT: Latroy Johnson, now 45, who lived on Hope Circle in Windsor before he was arrested and held on high bond while charged with two murders and a first-degree assault

TESTIMONY: Admits shooting and killing two men, Joshua Taylor and Jovan Wooten. Denies shooting and wounding Kiwan Smith. Says he shot Taylor because he feared a mass shooting was about to happen and Wooten because he began firing after Johnson fired the first shot.

The defendant — Latroy Johnson, now 45, of Hope Circle in Windsor — maintained while testifying in his double murder and assault trial in Hartford Superior Court that he fired the first fatal shot to prevent a mass shooting he believed was about to happen.

Kiwan Smith, then a semi-professional basketball player from Brooklyn, New York, got into an argument with Karee Iverson, a close friend of Johnson's, while they and several other people were hanging out in front of a pastry shop on Albany Avenue.

Johnson quoted Smith as saying, "I got something that'll light up the whole block." Johnson said he took that to mean a rapid-firing gun, like a machine gun or an AK-47.

He quoted Smith's friend, Joshua Taylor, who had come with him from New York, as saying, "I can make it quick as a drive-by."

Johnson said Taylor opened the rear hatch of Smith's Mercedes Benz sport-utility vehicle and reached inside, at which point Johnson stepped forward and shot Taylor in the head, killing him.

"I felt obligated to do something," Johnson testified. There were many people on the street that night, and Johnson said he feared that they would become "collateral damage" in a rapid-fire shooting.

But Johnson acknowledged on cross-examination by prosecutor Vicki Melchiorre that Taylor never pointed a gun at him. He also acknowledged that Smith didn't have a gun on him.

Last week, Detective Daniel Blumes, of the Hartford Police Department crime scene division, testified that detectives searched Smith's Mercedes and another SUV that brought a group of acquaintances to the area and found no guns or knives in either.

When the prosecutor asked Johnson why he didn't tell Taylor to show his hands, he replied, "I don't know that talk."

The prosecutor then asked why he didn't give other commands, such as "stop!"

Johnson said he did say "stop" as he pulled the trigger of his gun. He acknowledged that he didn't give Taylor time to comply.

After shooting Taylor, Johnson said, he stepped back, then went up to Smith. He said Smith asked him, "Why did you brain this guy?"

Johnson denied shooting Smith, who suffered three gunshot wounds to the chest and one to an arm. He said Jovan Wooten of New Britain, who was behind Smith, was firing and suggested that he shot Smith accidentally.

"I went boom to Mr. Wooten," Johnson said, acknowledging that he fired the single shot that hit Wooten in the eye, causing his death after several days on life support.

Johnson acknowledged on direct examination by his lawyer, Kirstin Coffin, that he was the first person to fire shots that night.

He said he got the gun from someone he declined to identify outside a package store where the group stopped earlier in the evening. He said he did so because "I was with dudes that had guns."

When the prosecutor asked why he didn't leave if he felt he was in danger, Johnson said he had been drinking all day and "I was following the bottle."

Iverson also testified Monday, saying Smith told his friend to shoot Iverson during their argument, which he said was about "money or something."

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