Shooting suspect defended

Mandesha Walker didn't want to testify in court on Wednesday.

At times while on the witness stand, she mumbled answers and contradicted previous witness statements about the February drive-by shooting that claimed the life of Palo Verde High School freshman Christopher Privett.

Walker defended her boyfriend, Ezekiel Williams, 18, who has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting.

Walker said that she loves Williams and that, contrary to authorities' claims, he wasn't a gang member.

During her two hours on the stand, however, Walker said a group of teens had showed off "gang signs" as Williams drove past them on Feb. 15.

She also testified that after the group flashed the signs, Willliams' co-defendant, 16-year-old Gerald Q. Davison, fired at least five rounds from the vehicle they were traveling in.

Authorities claim Davison, who is also charged with murder, pulled the trigger after Williams egged him on and handed him the .22-caliber pistol used in the shooting near the school.

Williams, also known as "Freaky Zeke," and Davison, also known as "G-Baby," appeared in court Wednesday for an evidentiary hearing, which is expected to finish today.

At its conclusion, a Las Vegas justice of the peace will decide if there is enough evidence to put the teens on trial.

A county prosecutor acknowledged Walker didn't want to be in court Wednesday, and the prosecutor treated her as a hostile witness.

On the day of the Palo Verde shooting, Davison, Williams and Walker were traveling in a car near Palo Verde when a group of teens showed "HTO" gang signs, Walker said.

Hustlers Taking Over is a hybrid gang.

Walker said Davison, who was riding in the backseat of the car, was "playing back" and flashed Squad Up gang signs at the teens.

She said Davison was laughing in a light-hearted way as he made the signs.

Authorities claim that Williams and Davison were connected to Squad Up, another local hybrid gang.

Other witnesses inside the car told police that Walker said one of the students in the group was throwing gang signs at her.

Williams, who was driving, picked up two more girls, Walker said.

They then drove down the street, and "that's when G Baby shot them," she said, referring to the group that had flashed the gang signs.

"I couldn't believe it happened," she said, adding that Williams was also shocked by the shooting.

But county prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci was skeptical of Walker's statements.

When she denied that Williams and Davison were in a gang, Pesci showed her a copy of Williams' Myspace.com page.

Williams' page on the social networking Web site, where people post photos and personal information, showed several photos of him flashing gang signs.

Privett wasn't mentioned during Wednesday's hearing. But Las Vegas police have said there is no evidence that Privett, a center on Palo Verde's freshman football team, was in a gang.

Privett's mother, Barbara Privett, was among the more than two dozen spectators who packed the courtroom on Wednesday.

Barbara Privett declined to be interviewed.

During Wednesday's hearings, others testified that the shooting had ties to gang activity.

One teen who is friends with Williams, said Davison opened fire because they got "banged on," slang for a gang conflict. The juvenile, who wasn't at the scene of the shooting, said in court that Williams told him after the shooting that they were banged on.

Midway through the hearing, court marshals cleared the courtroom and individually checked those present for weapons.

"There was an incident, and we're not sure if it's related or not" to the hearing, one marshal said.

Authorities later said a shooting near downtown involving a juvenile might have prompted the unusual security check.

Las Vegas police confirmed that they investigated a shooting near downtown but couldn't determine if it was connected to the court hearing.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.