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Hamad details feud, fight, shootings as testimony wraps up
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Video
Testimony concluded Friday afternoon in the Nasser Hamad aggravated-murder trial after Hamad took the stand for two hours, first being questioned by his attorney and then cross-examined by an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.
Jurors will return Monday morning to hear closing arguments and begin to deliberate on Hamad’s fate on two counts of aggravated murder and several counts of attempted murder.
Hamad, 48, admitted to the jury of six men and six women he fired the roughly 18 shots that killed two men – Joshua Haber, 19, and Josh Williams, 20 – and injured three other people who came to his house on state Route 46 in Howland on Feb. 25.
As he did the night of the killings when he was interviewed by police, Hamad gave an extremely detailed account of how the conflict with the five developed, what happened when they arrived, and what he did with his handgun and why.
He described continuing to fire and returning to his home for more bullets because of the potential the five might still be able to harm him and his girlfriend, Tracy Hendrickson.
“They were still a threat when I looked out, and they were still moving,” he said at one point.
Police have said the confrontation between Hamad and the five stemmed from a feud between Hamad and his girlfriend’s husband and two sons, one of whom was Bryce Hendrickson, 20.
Hamad said a Bryce Hendrickson comment popped up on his Facebook “Buy Sell Trade” account Feb. 25 while he and Tracy were in their home. It accused Hamad of stealing a tent and a boat.
One of Hamad’s attorneys, David Doughten, asked Hamad why he didn’t ignore the message and others he received from Bryce Hendrickson and another Hendrickson relative, John Shively.
“It’s been going on a long time. It’s bully tactics,” Hamad answered. Hamad also said going through law enforcement and the courts doesn’t work for him.
“You call the police, they don’t do nothing,” Hamad said.
Hamad asked Tracy Hendrickson who Shively was because Shively’s name started coming up on the messaging. She said Shively lived in Florida.
Chris Becker, assistant prosecutor, said there were about 40 profanity-laden messages exchanged among Hamad, Bryce Hendrickson and Shively that afternoon, but Hamad said he still wasn’t expecting a fight to result.
When a minivan pulled up after 4 p.m. the afternoon of Feb. 25 outside his house, Hamad said he expected it to be a customer for his construction business.
April Trent-Vokes, Shively’s mother, whom Hamad didn’t know, got out of the van first, Hamad said. Trent-Vokes yelled at him about “threatening my 17-year-old,” Hamad said. Shively, 17, got out next and walked to within a few feet of Hamad.
The van door then slammed open, Hamad said.
“I just had to do something, so I grabbed [Shively] because he had that smirk,” Hamad said of a look on Shively’s face. “He was up to something. You could tell. His hands were still in his pocket ... so I grabbed him and held one arm ... and threw him in the air, went with him so he could slam pretty hard,” Hamad said.
“Before I could get back up, they were all on me,” he said of the four males. When he broke free and got up, the fight stopped, Hamad said.
“I see three of them, like a military file, that’s the vision I had, walking toward the van,” Hamad said. He heard someone from the five yelling, “Get the gun! Grab the gun!” Hamad said.
Prosecutors said no other gun besides Hamad’s was found.
Hamad said he walked into the house, got his handgun and walked toward the van, watching for gunfire.
Hamad said he told the five not to move because he wanted them to stay there and face police for what they did to him, he said. He fired two shots low “to send a message.” He saw the males in the back seat “bending underneath the seat,” he said. He felt they were “reaching for something.”
Later, Bryce Hendrickson “lunged at me with a knife,” Hamad said, so he fired several shots. Shively put his hands up in the air, so he didn’t shoot at him, Hamad said.
Hamad said that when he ran out of bullets, two of the five still had not been hit with shots.
When questioned by his attorney why he didn’t stay in the house and call 911, Hamad said, “They were a big threat, just as worse or maybe worse than before. They had more time to grab the gun or they have it now.”
Judge Ronald Rice ruled just before Hamad began to testify that his lawyers would not be allowed to use the testimony of an expert witness in the trial to talk about diagnosing Hamad with post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the shootings.