What started with a bloody fight between two men on a residential street in Covington, ended in a shooting in broad daylight that left one of those men dead.
Dazzamon Jones, 32, emptied the magazine of an assault rifle into a black Kia Soul in August, fatally wounding 34-year-old Edgar Lopez, prosecutors said.
Jones was found guilty of murder Friday following a four-day trial in Kenton County Circuit Court. The jury recommended a sentence of life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
Lopez was already dead behind the wheel when police arrived. His back windshield was shattered and the vehicle was riddled with bullets.
The medical examiner who performed his autopsy testified Lopez died of gunshot wounds to the head and torso, but she couldn’t determine exactly how many times he’d been shot.
“It was overkill,” said Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders.
Prosecutor: Shooting was ‘retaliation’ for earlier fight
Prosecutors say Lopez was walking along Banklick Street in the late afternoon of Aug. 8 when he was attacked from behind by Brian Gray, 52, who was wielding a large chunk of concrete.
A melee ensued in which Lopez, who was struck in the head, fought back and was able to wrestle the concrete chunk away from Gray.
The fight ended with both men injured and Gray retreating through an alley to lie down in a yard on Russell Street, prosecutors said. Lopez got into his vehicle and pulled onto Russell Street, stopping across from where Gray lay down.
Jones, who refers to Gray as his uncle despite the pair being unrelated, observed part of the fight, tailed Lopez around the block to Russell Street and fired a barrage of bullets before fleeing the scene.
Police recovered 29 shell casings and the shooting was captured in its entirety by a nearby business’ security camera.
The video shows Jones firing into the back of Lopez’s vehicle before moving around to the driver’s side. Sanders said Jones did so to ensure his target was dead.
“This was payback. It was retaliation. It was revenge,” Sanders said during closing arguments.
Jones fled the scene in his Chevrolet Impala and police used other surveillance videos to track him as he drove onto the interstate toward Ohio, according to investigators.
The car was later traced to Middletown, where it was being driven by Jones’ cousin. She told police Jones handed her the keys a day after the shooting and directed her to a bridge where the vehicle was hidden.
Police also searched Jones’ Banklick Street home and found rifle magazines along with live rounds consistent with the gun used in Lopez’s killing, investigators said. Markings on the ammunition matched markings on shell casings recovered from the crime scene.
Jones surrendered to police four days after the shooting and provided investigators with information about where they could find the rifle, which he hid in a wooded area in Cincinnati.
Jones says he was protecting uncle, not in right mind. Jury disagrees
Jones did not deny at trial that he shot and killed Lopez.
Joseph Tutro, Jones’ public defender, said his client shot Lopez while under extreme emotional disturbance after seeing his uncle stagger away from the fight covered in blood.
The feud between Gray and Lopez started with a fight the month before, according to Tutro, who said Jones arrived at Banklick Street on Aug. 8 to see Lopez on top of Gray bashing his head into the ground.
Jones’ attorneys also pointed to testimony about Lopez being angry and making threats toward Gray before taking off in the same direction.
“I felt like I had to do something,” Jones said. “I didn’t want to kill him. I just wanted to stop him.”
However, prosecutors say Jones knew exactly what he was doing, adding that he lied to police about Lopez having a firearm and pinning Gray down on Russell Street after the fight.
Jones had no right to kill Lopez, who was unarmed and not an immediate threat to Gray, prosecutors said. The jury agreed.
“This was worse than a firing squad,” Sanders said. “The judge, the jury and the executioner was Dazzamon Jones,” he added.
Jones will appear in court before Judge Patricia Summe for final sentencing at a later date. Gray was indicted in October on an assault charge and is expected to go on trial in May.
Lopez was a lifelong Covington resident who graduated from Holmes High School and was working at his father’s construction company at the time of his death.
“It’s literally destroyed my life,” said Ebony Tolliver, who shares a 3-year-old son with Lopez. “Nothing’s the same. Everything is different.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Covington man found guilty of murder in ‘overkill’ shooting