Centennial – As jurors weighed the murder case against Sir Mario Owens in the slaying of Gregory Vann at an Aurora park, Vann’s mother spoke of how her son’s dreams of being a rap promoter were snuffed out on the Fourth of July 2004.
“It’s been 2 1/2 years,” Annetta Vann, 51, said Friday at the Arapahoe County Justice Center while the jury deliberated. “It seems forever. I never thought I could get caught up in something like this. I’m just a simple person, the same as my kids.”
Jurors went home Friday night without deciding whether Owens is guilty of first-degree murder. Prosecutors say he gunned down Gregory Vann at Lowry Park after a rap event put on by Vann and Javad Marshall-Fields. Owens’ attorney said his client fired in self-defense.
Annetta Vann recalled the rap party as a happy occasion. Her son was delighted at the size of the crowd that turned out that evening.
“We talked about plans for next year and laughed a lot,” she said.
Toward the end of the night, she said, a fight broke out and shots were fired.
“It was such a large crowd, I did not see what happened. But my son did not throw a punch. I saw him fall to the ground. I looked at him dying there.”
Her other son, Elvin Bell, began chasing the gunman and was shot and wounded himself.
“To watch your son die, (and) I didn’t know if the other would die,” she said. “What do you do? Leave one and go to the other? I left him there on the ground. I left him with my brother.”
Sobs forced Vann had to stop talking, as she remembered the scene.
“My son had never been in jail, or in trouble. He always worked, he went to college,” she said.
Owens’ friend Robert Ray was convicted in November of being an accessory to murder in Gregory Vann’s death.
Owens and Ray also face charges in the June 2005 death of Marshall-Fields and his finacée, Vivian Wolfe, shortly before Marshall-Fields was to testify at Ray’s trial.
Annetta Vann was joined by the mothers of Marshall-Fields and Wolfe each day of Owens’ trial.
“Our kids are supposed to bury us,” Annetta Vann said. “We’re not supposed to bury them. Rhonda Fields lost her son because he was doing what was right (in agreeing to testify in her son’s shooting). These were three innocent kids.”
Annetta Vann said that gangs have made life much more difficult, and that her sons understood the danger.
“They knew how bad it was getting (on the streets). It is bad. You don’t have to know the person. You could step on somebody’s shoes. Every black kid is afraid. You got haters – people who are not doing anything with their lives.”
She said gangs are out of control.
“The cops better step it up. We have to slow it down, stop it. No family, no mother should have to go through what I’m going through.”
Even though the jury hasn’t returned a verdict yet, Annetta Vann said she was confident that justice will be served.
“One way or another, we’re gonna get him. If they get away, there is no way they’re going to be able to do this again.”
She smiled broadly and affectionately when remembering her son Gregory’s character, describing him as “outgoing.”
“He loved jokes, he knew what he wanted,” she said. “He loved social life and his family. He even dressed us right. He was my little man.”
Greg’s uncle, Clarence, said that his nephew was an icon for area children.
“He was short but he played basketball like he was six-foot-four. The kids looked up to him.”
