THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090436
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
A former Norfolk State University resident adviser testified Wednesday that conditions in and near Samuel F. Scott Hall were so dangerous that he kept a loaded handgun for his own protection during his rounds.
On the night that freshman Gerard Edwards was shot to death last year, George M. Watts unlocked his 10mm Ruger from the dorm's front office and carried it with him as he and a security guard went in search of an assailant, he testified.
Watts made the comments Wednesday at the trial of Shamont Burrell, charged as the trigger man in the shootings. During his testimony, Watts - the son of a retired NSU history professor - said the dorm was plagued by groups of out-of-state students who aligned themselves based on their hometowns. The most prominent groups were from New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, he said.
On Jan. 18, 1994, Edwards was killed in his room as the result of one such rivalry, prosecutors and police have said. Edwards' roommate, Ronald Richardson, was wounded. Five students who were indicted in his murder called New York their home and belonged to a group dubbed the 718 Crew.
Edwards, from Washington, hung out with some other Washington- area students who called themselves the D.C. Boys. Tensions existed between the two groups, testimony has shown. The night before the shooting, the two groups fought at a university-sponsored party at a Newport News roller skating rink.
``There were lots of problems with these gangs,'' Watts testified, adding that many problems in the dorm could be linked to members of these and other groups that formed ``depending on what part of the country you came from.''
During his testimony, Watts began to describe earlier gang problems in the dorm. He was cut off by the judge, who explained those incidents had nothing to do with the charge against Burrell.
About 2:45 a.m. Jan. 18, Watts testified he was sitting in Scott Hall's front lobby when he heard between six and nine gunshots. ``At first I didn't think nothing about it, because in the neighborhood across the street from the dorm you heard gunshots all the time,'' he said. ``I couldn't tell if it was inside or outside.
``Then I got a phone call to my desk, saying that a student had been shot,'' Watts said. ``I pulled out my firearm . . . and, with a security guard, checked the halls.''
Watts and the guard walked through all three floors, keeping each other in sight at all times, he testified. ``Nobody was out of their rooms. Nobody was standing in the hallway,'' he recalled.
On the way back to the lobby, Watts said they saw a young man run down one of the halls and disappear into a room. The man did not fit Burrell's description. But one of Burrell's co-defendants, Derrick Washington, said Wednesday that he saw a security guard while running from the shooting and ducked into his room.
Watts returned to his desk and called police. About 30 seconds later, he got a phone call from another student. ``This time, they told me the exact room, Room 225,'' he said. ``When I went upstairs, I saw a man (Richardson) laying outside in the hallway.'' When he went inside, he found Edwards dying in his bed.
Scott Hall was a dorm rife with tension, testimony indicated. Several city-based groups existed - from New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Detroit - living within a few doors of one another. Fights were common. After the fight at the roller rink, and the day before he died, Edwards' friends ``escorted'' him back to his dorm room ``to make sure he got there safe,'' one friend testified.
Edwards' shooting was planned three doors away from his room, according to records and the testimony of co-defendant Christopher Skinner.
According to Skinner, he, Burrell and Derrick Washington met in the room of fellow New Yorkers James Powers and Anthony Britton. They ordered a pizza and the five started discussing the fight at the roller rink. Edwards had gotten the better of his former roommate Burrell in a free-for-all. Burrell allegedly wanted revenge.
Burrell said he wanted to go to Edwards' and Richardson's room to ``f--- them up,'' Skinner said. Skinner left to get a drink, and when he returned there was a gun in the room.
``My understanding was that they were going to beat them up,'' Skinner said. ``But when I came back, they had the gun. Then, it was my understanding they were going to shoot them.''
According to Washington, Burrell led the way to Edwards' room, followed by Britton and Washington. Skinner went down the hall as a lookout, but then ran away. Burrell punched in the combination on the door lock, then stepped inside, followed by Britton.
Then he heard the shots, said Washington, who pleaded guilty to murder and malicious wounding Wednesday in exchange for a 25-year cap on his sentence. Burrell ``pushed the gun off'' on him as he ran out of the room. Washington hid the gun in his TV that night until they could get rid of it the next day.
``All I thought that they were going to do was go in there and scare 'em,'' Washington testified, even though he told police earlier that murder had been planned. ``When I heard the shots, I went up against the wall. I was really shocked.'' by CNB