- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Mother testifies about June 18 shooting that killed child
Desiree Kirby, 22, appeared as the day's first witness on Friday, the third day in the preliminary hearing for Orlando Lopez, Paul Braden and Kevin Stone.
The three men are charged with murder for the death of Kirby's 4-year-old son, Skyler Rapp, as well as attempted murder, mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon and special allegations for the late night shooting that wounded Kirby; her boyfriend, Ross Sparks; his younger brother, Andrew Sparks; and friends Ian Griffith and Joseph Armijo.
Along with Kirby, Andrew Sparks and Ian Griffith would both offer testimony during the Friday session in Judge Stephen Hedstrom's Clearlake courtroom.
While the three men have not been charged with gang membership, testimony thus far has suggested that Stone was a Sureño, and District Attorney Don Anderson brought a concern to the court at the end of the day that the men – who have been seated separately in the courtroom's jury box, wearing jail uniforms and unshackled – were flashing gang signals at audience members.
When Kirby made her way to the stand, the injuries she suffered on the night of June 18 were evident. She had long surgical scars on her right arm, and the injuries to her right leg – which, like her arm, had been riddled with shotgun pellets – caused her to walk slowly, with a pronounced limp.
During testimony, Anderson would ask her to explain the extent of her injuries, which included loss of feeling in some of the fingers on her right hand and the need to reconstruct her entire arm due to her elbow being destroyed.
She's not yet received physical therapy due to issues including metal plates that are starting to work out of her right arm. Kirby said she won't be able to lift her arm sideways, which will hamper her from doing basics like fixing her own hair.
On her right leg, she suffered an estimated 25 wounds. She said none of the shot exited, and doctors had to cut open her leg, pull back the skin and remove the shot and repair damage to her artery. After getting out of the hospital in July, she spent the first month in a wheelchair.
She needs three additional surgeries on her arm and one on her leg, can't walk like she used to and she tires easily. Her injuries and longterm physical damage have made it difficult to care for her 1-year-old daughter, and she can no longer work.
In just over an hour the tearful young woman would describe how, late on June 18, while friends and family were gathered in the yard of the apartment on Lakeshore Drive she shared with Sparks and her two small children, gunfire erupted from the area of a fence separating the apartment's yard from the residence of Curtis Eeds.
She said she went to school with Lopez but did not know him; she knew of Braden – who had grown up with her boyfriend – and didn't know Stone.
On June 9 Leonardo Lopez, Orlando Lopez's brother, allegedly hit Josh Gamble, Ross and Andrew Sparks' cousin, in the face with a pipe or bar during a fight outside the adult school graduation in Lower Lake.
Kirby said she found out about it afterward, and while visiting Walmart with Gamble's sister, Amanda, about a week later, Amanda Gamble pointed out to her Leonardo Lopez. Amanda Gamble and Leonardo Lopez had dated several years before.
“I walked up to him and I said, 'Did you hit my cousin in the face with a bar?' I repeated it a couple of times,” said Kirby.
She said she was getting angrier with him, and although he didn't respond angrily at first, they began to argue and he denied the assault. Kirby said she left Walmart, but no threats were made and she wasn't afraid as a result of the confrontation.
On June 18, she had the day off and the party with friends at the Lakeshore Drive apartment “was kind of a last minute thing.”
She received a phone call at about 6 p.m. from someone who identified himself at Orlando Lopez – testimony that resulted in frequent objections by the defense – with the subject “just screaming, threatening stuff,” and telling her that he was going to come and beat up her family.
Even then, though, she wasn't worried, figuring the person was just “talking crap.” And no one showed up during the evening, as she continued hanging out, and drinking beer and doing shots with friends.
That afternoon she had been with Ross Sparks when he received threatening text messages and calls which, in his testimony earlier in the week, he indicated were from Orlando Lopez. Sparks said the messages also had attempted to lure him away from his home for a fight, which he had resisted, instead challenging Lopez to come to his apartment and “fight like a man,” but not to bring weapons.
Kirby was speaking with Andrew Sparks when the gunshots started late that night. She saw the first muzzle flash out of the corner of her eye. Then she heard people screaming.
“I looked over and my son was on the ground,” she said, starting to cry.
She tried to get to Skyler but then she collapsed, and Ross Sparks tried to drag her toward the apartment.
Kirby said the last gunshot went right through her home, above the crib where her baby daughter was sleeping.
As she laid on the ground, she heard the last gunshots. Her daughter was safe in someone's arms.
A friend at the party was cradling Skyler's head on her lap. “And he was dead,” Kirby said.
Men recount shooting scene
Like Kirby, Andrew Sparks and Ian Griffith recounted the shooting incident for the court on Friday.
Andrew Sparks went to school with Orlando Lopez and Braden, but didn't know Stone.
He said his brother Ross Sparks called him over to his apartment on June 18 because he was having problems with Lopez.
While he was there that evening, Andrew Sparks recalled seeing in the group two other men – Curtis Eeds, who lived next door and made a brief appearance, and another man known as “Goofy.” Both Eeds and Goofy had come from Eeds' home through a hole in the fence between the Sparks and Eeds residences.
Andrew Sparks said he saw several muzzle flashes and heard an estimated 10 gunshots in rapid succession.
He saw Skyler – standing near the barbecue, roasting marshmallows for s'mores – get hit by gunfire and fall, and he also witnessed Kirby collapse after being shot.
In the melee he saw someone shooting over the fence and another subject shooting from the area of the fence with missing boards. He couldn't clearly see the shooter, who he said had short hair.
He was shot in the left leg and left arm while pulling Skyler behind a car. “I didn't know he was shot at first,” Sparks said of the child. He also tried to help Kirby get up.
Sparks, who said his left arm no longer works “all that well,” believes he was shot by two different weapons, with the gunshots sounding different to him. He said he believed the gun being fired over the fence was a shotgun.
The 19-year-old Griffith, who followed Sparks to the stand, said he went to school with Leonardo Lopez and knew Braden from drug court, but like Sparks didn't know Stone. He had been asked to go to Sparks' home because of concerns over Gamble's fight.
Griffith said he couldn't see the shooters due to the darkness, but he did see the first muzzle flash and heard as many as 14 shots.
He said he knew instantly that he was shot after feeling a warm sting in his leg. He was hit by two to three pellets, which didn't take him off his feet.
But he was hit again and fell as he was going into the apartment. As he was inside the home trying to check his wounds, Armijo fell and then Kirby went down.
Testimony in the case will resume on Wednesday, Oct. 5.
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