YOUNGSTOWN MURDER TRIAL Friend of accused recounts hearing gunshots

Drummond could get the death penalty if convicted of aggravated murder.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Dean Thomas watched as Wayne Gilliam whispered something in John Drummond's ear during an impromptu gathering of friends on Duncan Lane in March 2003.
Then he saw Drummond walk away and say to someone else, "It's on."
Gilliam and Drummond left shortly afterward, returning about 10 minutes later, each in his own car. Drummond got out of his car carrying a rifle and got into Gilliam's car.
The two drove up Duncan, and the car disappeared as Gilliam made a right turn onto Rutledge Drive. Within minutes, a series of loud gunshots rang out, sending people scattering for cover.
"The shots were so loud and so close, we thought they were shooting at us," Thomas said.
Thomas, who lived on Duncan at the time, was among the witnesses presented by prosecutors in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Drummond, 26, is on trial there on multiple charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault and illegally firing a gun into a home. Police say he killed 3-month-old Jiyen C. Dent Jr.
If Drummond is convicted of the aggravated murder charges, he could be sentenced to death. He also could be sentenced to prison with no possibility of parole or with parole eligibility after 25 years or 30 years.
Gathering on street
Thomas said that he's known Drummond for years, and that the two of them were talking in the street the evening of March 24, 2003. Before long, others from their East Side neighborhood stopped by and joined the gathering, where people were drinking alcoholic beverages and smoking marijuana.
Thomas said once the gunshots were fired, he and the others who remained at the gathering ran for cover. He didn't see who fired the shots, or where they were fired.
Police say Drummond fired 10 shots from an assault rifle into the Rutledge Drive home where Jiyen C. Dent Sr. and LaToya Butler lived with their infant son. One of the shots passed through the walls and struck the baby's head, killing him. The parents were not hit.
Gilliam was convicted last year of charges identical to Drummond's, and he is serving a 54-year prison sentence.
Overheard comment
James Rozenblad, who also lives on Duncan, also was among those in the gathering that night. He testified that he overheard Drummond, Gilliam and others talking about "a guy moving into our neighborhood who could have had something to do with the death of Bret Schroeder."
Dent and Butler had lived on Rutledge only about four days before the shooting. Assistant prosecutor Timothy Franken said Drummond believed Dent was responsible for the slaying of Schroeder in 1998. Schroeder, Gilliam and Drummond all were members of the Lincoln Knolls Crips, according to testimony.
Rozenblad said Drummond has tombstones tattooed on his back with the names of deceased gang members, including Schroeder's.
Nathaniel Morris testified that while he was an inmate in the county jail last year, he overheard Drummond talking to another inmate, Chauncy Walker, about the shooting. Walker is expected to testify when the trial resumes today in the courtroom of Judge Maureen A. Cronin.
bjackson@vindy.com