Arapahoe County – Gregory Vann lay on his back, gasping for air, with a gunshot wound to his chest as his assailant stood over him and fired more rounds to finish him off, according to witness testimony Wednesday.
Prosecutors believe Sir Mario Owens, 22, was the man standing over Vann after a July 4, 2004, rap event at Aurora’s Lowry Park.
Vann’s death, police said, led to a double homicide a year later when the key witness to the Lowry Park shooting was gunned down along with his fiancée.
That shooting, on June 20, 2005, resulted in indictments of Owens, Robert Ray, 21, and Parish Carter, 24. The shooting also led the Colorado General Assembly this year to create a law to ensure district attorneys get annual training in witness protection.
It all began after a Fourth of July barbecue, when a crowd of roughly 200 partyers began leaving the park pavilion, according to witness testimony Wednesday during the first day of Owens’ four-day preliminary hearing.
Tensions flared as revelers got into their cars, witnesses said. Words were exchanged. A punch was thrown, hitting Owens in the face, one witness said. Then, according to testimony, Owens pulled out a gun – shooting Vann in the chest.
Vann’s friends chased the shooter, who ran to a waiting Suburban, a witness recalled.
Another witness said Owens ran to the SUV, where Ray jumped out and began firing – hitting Javad Marshall-Fields and Vann’s brother, Elvin Bell.
Ray is slated to stand trial in the 2004 shooting in October.
Almost a week after the shooting, police believed Ray was involved. Marshall-Fields picked Ray out of a photo lineup and agreed to testify. But a week before Ray was to stand trial in 2005 on being an accessory to murder, Marshall-Fields and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe, were shot as they drove on an Aurora street.
Police said the cases have been difficult to investigate because witnesses are scared to talk.
The two witnesses who testified Wednesday are not being named by The Denver Post because they fear retribution. They said they feared for their lives and for the lives of their families if they cooperated with authorities.
“I didn’t know if they were coming after me or not,” said one witness, whose memory failed him on details of the 2004 shooting.
“It was such a horrific event that I tend to block things like that out,” he said.
Another witness agreed to testify if he was put in the witness protection program, moved out of state and given a deferred sentence in a 2005 theft case. That witness provided clear details, saying Ray was arguing with people, Vann was punched by Owens and Owens began shooting.
The witness said he stood about 10 feet away when he saw both Owens and Ray fire their weapons.
Owens faces nine counts, including first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Staff writer Jeremy P. Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1175 or jpmeyer@denverpost.com.
