Mitchell
It took District Judge Jeff White less than 5 seconds to rule there was probable cause De'Andre Lamar Mitchell committed the crime of attempted murder and bound the case over to an Escambia County grand jury.
Mitchell, 17, 1440 Tumbling Lane, Atmore, was arrested Feb. 27 on the attempted murder charge for allegedly shooting fellow Escambia County High School classmate Trenton Atchinson, 17. The gunshot wound left Atchinson paralyzed.
During a preliminary hearing Friday, which Mitchell did not attend, Atmore Police Inv. Ken Sessions testified that witnesses identified Mitchell as the person who exited a vehicle in front of a house near the 300 block of East 4th Street and began firing a handgun. One of the bullets struck Atchinson, who was apparently not the intended target.
Sessions testified that Atchinson identified Mitchell as the shooter, telling the officer he 'got out with a handgun and started shooting'.
The shooting was apparently the carry-over from a fight over a girl earlier that day at the high school between Mitchell and John Durden. Both students were suspended following the fight.
Sessions testified at Friday's hearing that Mitchell sent Durden a text to meet him at the park on Martin Luther King Drive.
Sessions said the meeting at the park turned into a brawl and Mitchell was beaten up by a couple of guys. Sessions said other students showed up and sticks and bats were involved in the fight. He also testified Mitchell's mother and Durden's mother both showed up at the park. Witnesses told the police Durden's mother pulled her son into a vehicle and that Mitchell started swinging his fists through the window.
He testified Durden's mother took her son back to Atchinson's house, where the shooting took place, to pick up a cell phone and backpack. While there witnesses said Mitchell got out and started shooting.
Sessions stated Mitchell must have left the fight at Martin Luther King Drive and got a gun. He said witnesses stated he shot three or four times into the crowd. He also noted police officers recovered three spent .9-millimeter casings at the scene. He also testified that earlier Friday a search warrant was executed at Mitchell's residence and a spent .9-millimeter casing was found in Mitchell's bedroom between two mattresses. The weapon used in the shooting has not been found.
Sessions said Atchinson apparently tried to break up the fight at the school and was also involved in the fight at the park.
Mitchell's mother, Yashetta McKenzie, 36, 1440 Tumbling Lane, Atmore, has also been charged with attempted murder in the case.
Witnesses said she showed up at the fight on Martin Luther King Drive. However, she told police she never went to 4th Avenue where the shooting took place, but Sessions testified that video surveillance near the scene of the shooting showed McKenzie there.
Under cross examination by Mitchell's attorney, James Byrd of Mobile, Sessions testified that the actual shooting was not caught on the surveillance camera.
