- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Stepfather of slain child recounts events leading to fatal June 18 shooting in Thursday testimony
Ross Sparks, 25, of Clearlake said on the stand Thursday that he had begun receiving threatening texts from Orlando Lopez, who along with Kevin Stone and Paul Braden are charged with the murder of 4-year-old Skyler Rapp.
The men also are charged with attempted murder, mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon and special allegations for wounding Desiree Kirby, the child's mother; Sparks and his younger brother, Andrew; Ian Griffith; and Joseph Armijo.
Nine days before the shooting, Ross Sparks' 17-year-old cousin, Josh Gamble – the opening witness in the preliminary hearing on Wednesday – had allegedly been assaulted by Lopez's younger brother, Leonardo, and a local gang that call themselves the “Ave. Boys,” for Clearlake's Avenues area.
Based on testimony so far, that fight and the resulting tensions appear to have laid the groundwork for the deadly confrontation in Sparks' yard late on the night of June 18.
Sparks testified that he had known Lopez – who played football with his younger brother – and Braden before the shootings, but had not known Stone.
At one point on Thursday morning District Attorney Don Anderson asked Judge Stephen Hedstrom to admonish Lopez, who was sitting in the jury box along with Braden and Stone. Anderson said that he witnessed Lopez mouthing something in an angry manner to Sparks during his testimony.
“What I'm going to say goes for everyone in this courtroom during these proceedings,” said Hedstrom. “This is a court of law and we have certain procedure and decorum.”
Hedstrom would have to offer several admonishments on Thursday, including urging Sparks to use “a little bit better language” after he had casually used a profane term during testimony.
When Sparks balked at answering questions Stone's defense attorney Komnith Moth posed about the two beers Sparks drank on the day of the shooting, Hedstrom gently explained that – while he understood that Sparks has “gone through a great deal” – he had an obligation to answer the questions put to him, including those he didn't necessarily want to answer.
The other witness on the stand Thursday, Rafael Escarcega – a Sonoma County Jail inmate who met Stone after his arrest in Santa Rosa – also would get the judge's firm direction that he had to answer questions posed about past connections to the Norteños gang.
Hedstrom also overruled a motion submitted by the defense attorneys in the case on Wednesday relating to a threatening text message saying “F*** your life” that Lopez reportedly sent to Sparks before the shooting.
Attorney Stephen Carter, who represented Lopez, had objected to the text message on grounds including hearsay. Hedstrom admitted it in relation to Lopez's case, but not Braden's.
According to his Thursday testimony, Sparks had what he believed had been a friendly conversation with Orlando Lopez about two days before the shooting. Lopez was at the home of Curtis Eeds, Sparks' neighbor, when Sparks came over to do some laundry.
Sparks said he told Lopez that his brother “had one coming” because of the fight with Gamble, and Lopez told him not to worry about it, that he would take care of it.
But on June 18, beginning around 11:30 a.m., Sparks received three to four threatening texts from a phone number he didn't recognize. When he called the number, Lopez picked up – Sparks recognized Lopez's voice – and the men began talking.
At first things seemed OK, but Sparks said things quickly went bad. “He said that he wanted to fight so I said just go ahead and bring it over,” said Sparks, adding that he told Lopez not to bring guns or weapons because of his children and family.
Sparks testified that Lopez said he was going to come over and bash in Sparks' head and the heads of his family members with the same pipe that his brother had allegedly used on Gamble more than a week earlier.
He said Lopez hung up on him but later Leonardo Lopez called back.
After that call, Sparks called a friend, as well as his brother Andrew and cousin Jeremiah Gamble for their help in case Lopez showed up to “fight like a man.”
Sparks said he was raised with firearms but doesn't keep them at his home. The shotgun that he owns stays at his grandmother's residence.
He said Eeds gave him a chain with two locks on it to use as a weapon; Eeds hung it on the fence, where Sparks guessed it may remain to this day.
At Eeds home Sparks spoke to a man known to him as “Goofy,” who came over to the barbecue at Sparks' home later that night. Goofy told Sparks “to watch out, be careful” regarding the threats.
Goofy also told Sparks that he recently had sold Lopez a .32 caliber pistol.
Sparks said he had sat in his driveway all day waiting for Lopez to show up. He would get additional texts from the number purported to be Lopez's, trying to get him to meet either at Oak Hill Middle School or the site of the former Outrageous Waters water park.
“I ain't walking into no trap. I ain't no sucker,” Sparks said.
He then got another message, “Where are you?” He responded that he was at his home.
Later that night, he said Eeds left his home next door and Goofy came over to ask where Eeds had gone. Goofy then hung out in the yard, leaning up against one of several cars parked there, and was accompanied by a young man in his 20s who Sparks said he didn't know.
It was close to 11 p.m. when the gunshots were fired at Sparks and his family and friends over and through the fence that separated his apartment from Eeds' home.
At first he thought the shot was a firecracker, but then he saw the first of five muzzle flashes.
“After that there was continuous gunshots,” he said. “People were scattering, falling, screaming, running. And then they ended,” he said of the shots, which he said numbered six to eight.
Sparks said the first shot was extremely loud, as if double ought buckshot was being fired. Two of the other shots were lower and “totally different” in the way they sounded, like there was a different gun involved, such as a small pistol or a smaller-caliber rifle.
He said he saw the silhouettes of the shooters, but couldn't further describe the suspects.
What he did see was his 4-year-old stepson lying dead in the middle of the driveway, his brother and Kirby both with gunshot wounds from their shoulders to the toes, and Armijo and Griffith shot through the legs.
Sparks also was shot through the leg, with the bullet entering under his right buttock and exiting from the inside of the leg. He would later have to be airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center, although, at first, “I didn't know that I was hit. My adrenaline was pumping so bad.”
He said he went and picked up Skyler. “He wasn't moving or breathing. I instantly knew he was gone.”
Next he went to Kirby, who was the most badly injured of the other victims. He said she was going in and out of consciousness. “I thought she was going to die,” said Sparks.
Sparks said he tried calling 911 several times before he finally got through.
After about three hours on the stand Thursday Sparks was allowed to step down.
Jail statements cause concern for defense
Anderson went out of order in presenting his witnesses on Thursday. It's his right to do, but that move ended up causing some consternation for Carter, Moth and Braden's attorney, Doug Rhoades.
That's because after Sparks left the stand Anderson called Rafael Escarcega of Santa Rosa, who was transported from the Sonoma County Jail – where he is awaiting sentencing on possession of a controlled substance – to Lake County to testify.
Escarcega offered information about discussions he had with Stone, who was arrested in Santa Rosa in late June after being on the run for close to two weeks. For about a week after his arrest, Stone was housed in the Sonoma County Jail, where he met Escarcega.
Before Escarcega's testimony got fully under way, the defense attorneys asked for a brief break to look at a new law that could impact jailhouse testimony and then meet with Hedstrom. After the break it was determined that the legislation wasn't applicable in the case.
Escarcega said he and Stone were housed in the same area of the Sonoma County Jail. He said Stone told him he had been arrested for murder and attempted murder, and that a child had been killed.
Stone also allegedly stated to Escarcega that he is a Norteño gang member.
Escarcega said Stone said “Nano,” the nickname Lopez goes by, and “Pelon” – which means “bald” in Spanish, and could refer to Braden, whose head was shaved at the time of his arrest, according to his booking photo – were the shooters.
Escarcega said of Stone, “He said he didn't have a weapon but he was the driver,” and had been driving a “neighborhood scraper” that everyone used.
Stone “got very defensive” when asked about his role in the shooting, said Escarcega.
Escarcega took three pages of notes to document his conversations with Stone.
He testified that Stone said the shootings were gang related, although he hadn't documented that in his notes and hadn't told a Clearlake Police detective about those alleged statements in an interview nearly two months ago. He said he was remembering things on the stand Thursday that he hadn't recalled previously.
Moth questioned Escarcega about ripping off a friend of Stone's for $1,500 in connection with a drug deal. Escarcega said he didn't know the person Moth was referencing.
Escarcega himself got defensive and challenged the relevance of questions Moth and his fellow defense attorneys posed to him regarding his own Norteño gang affiliation.
He said he joined the Norteños in 1991, and left the group when he was 30, 17 months ago.
Escarcega said he never took part in Norteño-related activity in Lake County, and had never met Lopez or Braden.
Testimony in the case will continue at 10:30 a.m. Friday in Hedstrom's Clearlake courtroom.
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