Survivor in Hamad murder case went to house to 'diffuse' fight, she testified today

WARREN

The two survivors of the gun attack that killed two young men and injured three other people at Nasser Hamad’s house Feb. 25 on state Route 46 in Howland testified at Hamad’s aggravated-murder trial today.

John Shively, 17, spent nearly three hours on the witness stand, questioned by an assistant prosecutor and extensively cross-examined by an attorney for Hamad about a fight that Shively said unexpectedly turned deadly.

Hamad is on trial on two counts of aggravated murder and several counts of attempted aggravated murder and could get the death penalty if convicted of certain charges.

Shively’s mother, April Trent-Vokes, then testified for a half-hour before the trial concluded for the day. Trent-Vokes will resume her testimony at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Shively was grazed by a bullet. Trent-Vokes was hit six times, including in the head, arm and leg. She walked with a limp on her way in and out of the courtroom.

Shively testified that he wanted to “resolve” a dispute between Hamad and his distant cousin, Bryce Hendrickson, whom he had never met in person before Feb. 25.

So when his mother returned home that afternoon, he told her about vulgar comments Hamad made that day on a Facebook thread between Hamad and Hendrickson, 20.

“It was just horrible,” she said of the messages. “And I said I thought it was ridiculous and I was going to go over there and defuse the situation,” she said.

Hendrickson died Sept. 30 of an apparent drug overdose at a home in McDonald, leaving only Shively and Trent-Vokes to testify on behalf of the five people who went to Hamad’s house that day.

Killed were her son, Josh Haber, 19, and another cousin of Shively’s, Joshua Williams, 20. Prosecutors say Hamad opened fire on the five as they returned to their minivan after a fight with Hamad near the front of Hamad’s house. After the fight, Hamad went into the house, reloaded his gun and returned to fire additional shots at the five, prosecutors say.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.