Kayline Rosch remembered turning to a friend before it happened in the kitchen at a house party on North 27th Street.Â
A guy had come up to her boyfriend, Damien Brave, asking for a dub of marijuana. She didn't know his name at the time but said it was the man at the defense table, 19-year-old Kashuan McCree.
Brave declined.
The testimony came Tuesday at the start of McCree's trial for the first-degree murder of Brave the night of March 31, 2023, at a party packed with teenagers in what Lincoln police have described as an attempt to rob Brave of marijuana.
Rosch said she had seen McCree pull the gun from his waistband as he approached Damien, and asked if he shot him if he would find weed in his backpack.
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Rosch said the guy seemed drunk, and she didn't have a good feeling. She turned toward a friend and said they should leave.
Then, Rosch told the jury, as she was turning her head back to Damien, "that's when my ears had started ringing and the gun had went off."
Kashaun McCree
"Did it sound like it was close?" Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Ashley Bohnet asked the 18-year-old.
"Yes," she said. "Like right next to me."
She said she didn't see McCree fire the gun, but caught a glimpse of Damien holding his stomach. And at the sound of gunfire, she started running, out of the house to her car across the street.
"I had thought that Damien was behind me, but he wasn't. So I started panicking and looking around for him," Rosch said.
She saw him being carried out of the house by two guys she didn't know who put him in the front seat of her car. She raced him to a hospital, where he collapsed on the ground when he tried to stand up to go in the ER.
Rosch said she used a T-shirt to apply pressure to the wound she saw until nurses ran out and took him inside. Â
Brave had been struck in the stomach, right thigh and knee. The shot to his abdomen was fatal.
Brave
Police found three shell casings, all fired from the same gun with McCree’s DNA on them, according to testing at the Nebraska State Patrol’s crime lab.
On April 6, 2023, McCree was arrested in a Detroit suburb on a warrant for Brave’s killing. In an interrogation, he accused Brave of firing off a shot first, and said he shot in self defense.
Manuel Guerrero, 19, who had known Brave from childhood, was in the kitchen when McCree started arguing with Brave.
"Kashuan tried to grab Damien's backpack and Damien wasn't having it," he said.
Guerrero said he heard McCree say, "I'm going to shoot you."
That's when they started fighting, he said.
He said a balloon popped and everyone got scared, thinking it was a gunshot, and froze. Then, everyone went back to normal and he saw the two fighting and Kashuan with a gun.
"They're both fighting for the gun. Damien's holding Kashuan's hands in the air, trying to get the gun away, and the next thing you know you hear a pop," Guerrero said.
Bohnet, the prosecutor, asked if he saw who fired the gun.
He said they both had their hands on the gun.
"You couldn't exactly tell whose finger was on the trigger when they were fighting for it. But their hands were both on the gun," Guerrero said.
He said McCree had the gun up to Damien's chest.
"And that was Mr. McCree firing it into his chest?" Bohnet asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Guerrero said.
Trial is expected to last through next week.
Remembering Lincoln's homicide victims of 2023
1. Julian A. Martinez
Police found 18-year-old Julian Martinez with one gunshot wound to his chest near 19th Street and Euclid Avenue on Jan. 21 after an argument over with a neighbor over their pet dogs devolved into a fatal shooting, according to authorities.
Prosecutors charged Martinez’s neighbor, 29-year-old Armon Rejai, with first-degree murder in the teen’s death.
, Martinez’s family said he cherished his sisters and nephews, who he loved to play video games and roughhouse with. He shared his life and love with his girlfriend and his best friend, along with numerous cousins and relatives, his family said.
2. Rudy Requejo Jr.
Rudy Requejo Jr., who was 22 months old, died at an Omaha hospital March 17 after weeks of suspected abuse and neglect, police investigators alleged in court filings.
Prosecutors charged the boy’s mother, 30-year-old Brittany Cook, and her boyfriend, 32-year-old Joshua Tackett, with child abuse resulting in the child’s death.
His family remembered Requejo Jr.’s infectious joy that, at times, brought previously feuding family members together.Â
“Junior had a smile that was like gravity,†his aunt said.
3. Ronald Gonzalez Rivas
Ronald E. Gonzalez-Rivas, 45, was one of two maintenance employees at The Lodge Apartments who were run over and killed at the south Lincoln complex on March 27.
A resident of the apartment complex, 27-year-old Taylor Bradley, was charged with six felonies for her alleged role in the brazen attack, including a first-degree murder charge in Gonzalez-Rivas’ death, according to court records.
In , his wife of 11 years, Georgina Molina, said she was deeply saddened by his death and asked for prayers for their family. Gonzalez-Rivas left behind two children, ages 19 and 26.
4. Christopher Karmazin
A longtime maintenance employee at The Lodge Apartments in south Lincoln, Christopher J. Karmazin was one of two men killed there March 27 when he and a colleague were run over and killed by a 27-year-old resident, police alleged.
Prosecutors charged Taylor Bradley with six felonies for her alleged role in the hit-and-run attack. She was charged with first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony in Karmazin’s death.
, family said the Lincoln man left behind three children and a loving wife.
"Chris loved spending time with his friends playing board games and was an avid animal lover," a relative, Garrett Karmazin, said in a post pinned to the fundraiser. “He enjoyed spending time outdoors and working with his hands. His greatest joy was being a father."
5. Damien Brave
Damien I. Brave, an 18-year-old Lincoln man, died in the early morning hours of April 1 after he was shot four times at a house party the night before near 27th and Fair streets.
Police in Michigan later arrested 17-year-old Kashaun M. McCree for his alleged role in Brave's death, thought to have been the result of a robbery gone wrong. Prosecutors charged McCree, who police say fled to Detroit after the shooting, with first-degree murder.
Brave's close friend and family, who , remembered him as a goofy, fun-loving kid whose beaming smile demanded that others join in.
"If you felt like crap or you felt down, and you got one of his hugs, you just felt like you were safe," his mother, Heidi Brave, said. "I'm the mom. I should have made him feel safe. But the way he just hugged you, it just made you feel like you were something special."
6. Mark Kruger
Mark Kruger, 59, died May 7 after he was stabbed amid an argument at a family gathering that evening near 63rd Street and Baldwin Avenue.
Police arrested Kruger's son, Joseph Kruger, at the scene. The 40-year-old was later charged with first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony for his alleged role in his dad's death.
In , Mark Kruger's family described the Lincoln man as a loving father, grandfather, brother and uncle who loved music, concert-going and riding his Harley.
"... He loved to make the world smile," Kruger's family wrote. "He loved camping, fishing and going out on the boat. Mark always, always gave compliments and encouragement to all and he would give the shirt off his back for anyone."
The family also to help pay for his funeral.
7. Zachary Svoboda
Lincoln Police found Zachary Svoboda dead at his home near the North 50th and Greenwood streets on Aug. 23, 2023.
An autopsy determined the cause of death to be intoxication from a combination of methamphetamine and fentanyl.
Investigators have identified physical and digital evidence, along with witness statements, that show Svoboda's death was intentional.
Police have alleged Amanda Wright devised and carried out a plan to kill Svoboda.
She is currently being held at the Lancaster County jail.Â
8. James Baylor
James Baylor, who often went by Jim or Jimbo but whose legal first name was Robert, died at a Lincoln hospital Sept. 5, nine days after he suffered a head injury in an apparently random assault near 13th and P streets Aug. 27.
Police of Lincoln on suspicion of first-degree assault in the hours after the attack. Prosecutors later enhanced the charges filed against Rodriguez Alvis, charging him with manslaughter following Baylor's death.
Baylor's friends and family remembered the 55-year-old as "a dear, kind, tender soul that touched a lot of lives."
"He was always interested in other people and what they were doing and always enthusiastic about them," said his brother, John Baylor. "And it was completely authentic."
9. Larry Cole
Larry Cole, 76, was found in his residence on the 1100 block of New Hampshire Street on Dec. 19. Officers went to the home on a welfare check, which was called in by one of Cole's family members.
Police received no answer when they knocked and smelled natural gas, which led them to call Lincoln Fire and Rescue who turned off the gas.
When the air cleared, police went in and found Cole dead inside, as well as another man.
Cole's death later was ruled a homicide.
Reach the writer at 402-473-7237 or lpilger@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LJSpilger
Lori Pilger
Courts reporter
