'He took one more breath and that's it': Mother describes heartbreaking moment she watched white neighbor 'shoot dead her unarmed son, 13



John Spooner suspected Darius Simmons of breaking into his Milwaukee home and stealing guns

Spooner confronted the teen on the sidewalk two days after the weapons were discovered missing and demanded they be returned

When the teenager denied stealing anything, Spooner shot him in the chest whilst his mother watched

The case has drawn comparisons to the trial of George Zimmerman



A Milwaukee mother couldn't contain her tears yesterday as she described the horrifying moment her white neighbor allegedly shot dead her son, a black 13-year-old, in front of her eyes after he accused the boy of stealing guns from his house.

Patricia Larry testified that John Henry Spooner, 76, warned her son, Darius Simmons, that he'd teach him not to steal before he fired a single shot into the boy's chest, killing him, in May 2012.

The shocking account came in the second day of Spooner's trial as jurors watched footage from the elderly man's own surveillance video, which showed him confronting Simmons on the sidewalk outside their houses, pointing a gun at the teen's chest and firing from just a few feet away.

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Heartbroken: Patricia Larry, Darius Simmons' mother, pictured, pauses to hold back tears as she talks about how she saw her son shot by John Spooner during her testimony Tuesday, July 16, 2013

The wounded teen flees away from the cameras' view and collapses in the street.

According to her testimony, Larry ran after her son and found him on the ground with only a light pulse in his neck.

'Then I pulled his shirt up and I (saw) he had a bullet hole in his chest,' she testified tearfully. 'He took one more breath and that's it.'

The video was shown in court as evidence in the trial of Spooner, who's charged with first-degree intentional homicide.

Larry, who has sat in the front row of the courtroom since the trial related to her son's death began on Monday, refused to watch the surveillance video. She stared straight ahead with moist eyes.

Three jurors watched the video with their hands over their mouths.

Support: Patricia Larry, Darius Simmons' mother, right, is comforted after a video of her son being shot by John Henry Spooner was shown in court

In the surveillance footage, Spooner emerges from his house that morning and confronts Simmons.

He points a gun at the boy, who quickly moves backward a few steps. Both Spooner and the teen direct their attention toward a porch at Simmons' home, where Simmons' mother is standing.

Moments later, Spooner points the gun back at Simmons and fires, hitting him in the chest.

As the teen stumbles and runs away, Spooner fires a second shot that misses him.

The defense has conceded that Spooner fired the fatal bullet at Simmons as they argued on the sidewalk.



Victim: Darius Simmons, pictured, was allegedly shot and killed by John Henry Spooner in May 2012

But defense attorney Franklyn Gimbel said the two issues for the jury to decide are whether Spooner intended to kill the boy, and whether Spooner was suffering from mental illness that prevented him from knowing right from wrong at the time.

Richard Martinez, one of the Milwaukee police officers who responded after the shooting, testified that Spooner offered an unsolicited confession upon his arrest. Martinez said he ordered Spooner at gunpoint to drop his weapon and Spooner bent down and laid his handgun on the ground.

Martinez testified that he was handcuffing Spooner when Spooner said, 'Yeah, I shot him,' referring to the teen. Martinez said Spooner had another bullet in his pocket.

Martinez's partner, Michael Urbaniak, testified that he and Martinez placed Spooner in the back of a squad car while they investigated the scene. While being detained, Spooner commented that he had reached his breaking point and that his house had been broken into two days earlier, Urbaniak said.

The officer said Spooner claimed he knew the culprits were the kids who lived next door, and that they were part of a family that recently moved next door and had caused nothing but trouble.

Other police officers who testified included Lori Borchert, who responded to the burglary report two days earlier. She said two windows on Spooner's home were broken and Spooner told her four shotguns were missing.

The day after the burglary, Spooner called Borchert and told her that his surveillance video captured images of the suspects. She said she viewed the video and that it showed two different black teenage males coming from the area of Simmons' home and moving toward Spooner's home.

She said she didn't arrest anyone because there wasn't enough probable cause. She said the faces on the video weren't clear, and the teens didn't appear to be holding any of the missing guns.

Gimbel, who limited his cross-examinations, told jurors during opening statements he intends to raise questions about whether Spooner actually had the requisite intent to commit homicide.

Day two: John Henry Spooner, right, sits in court during his trial Tuesday, July 16, 2013, in Milwaukee

In the dock: Spooner, 76, right, confers with his defense attorney on Monday. He faces charges that he fatally shot a black teen last year whom he suspected of breaking into his Milwaukee home and stealing weapons

'We will focus on what was Mr. Spooner's intent when he pointed the gun and pulled the trigger,' Gimbel said.



Some have likened the shooting of Simmons as 'vigilantism and rogue police behavior' and similar to the killing in Florida of Trayvon Martin.

In both cases, an older man allegedly killed a black teen because the shooter believed they were suspicious.

Spooner shot Simmons last May after accusing the boy of stealing $3,000 worth of guns from his home.

Video: Spooner's own surveillance footage shows the man, pictured, shooting the boy int he chest

The teen, who had lived with his mother next door to Spooner for only a month, was taking out the trash around 10 a.m. when Spooner accused the boy of the theft and demanded he return the shotguns.

The teenager was unarmed when he was shot in the street outside their homes.

The boy told Spooner he had not stolen the guns and his mother, Patricia Larry, told the elderly man to go back inside.

Spooner then pulled out a handgun and shot Simmons in the chest from only five feet away, killing the boy. There were at least two witnesses.

'I condemn in the strongest words possible the murder of Darius Simmons,' Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said after the shooting. 'To have a boy who's taking out the garbage at 10 in the morning murdered should shock the conscience of the state.'

If convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, Spooner faces life in prison.

At the time, neighbor Toni Johnson said she was watching TV when she heard a commotion outside her door.



‘I looked out the door and saw the mother kneeling over her boy at the curb, screaming, 'my son!' and the old guy was standing right over there by the stop sign with his dog, just waiting,’ Ms. Johnson said.



Neighbor Robert Delatorre said Spooner lived alone with his two dogs and often walked around the block.

Larry said Spooner told her son he 'wanted his stuff back and that he wanted his shotguns back.'



'My son, Darius Simmons, was shot and killed in front of me,' Larry said earlier. 'It's affected me, my friends, my work.'

Neighbors: Spooner was arrested after waiting for police at the crime scene. He lives in the cream house, right, while Darius Simmons lived in the blue house, left

Feud: Police said here was a history of disagreements between the man and the teenager