Detective says eyewitness in South Side shooting case was consistent in her story

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The lead detective in the Rawsheem Aponte murder case testified Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that the main eyewitness in the case — who was also Aponte’s fiancé — was consistent when telling police who shot and killed Aponte and wounded her and their child.

City Police Detective Sgt. George Anderson told jurors in the aggravated murder trial of 22-year-old Vashuad May that the witness, Rekia Wright, also told Anderson that Aponte had been feuding with members of May’s family before he was killed.

May also faces charges of attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a firearm for the April 26, 2022, shooting that killed the 24-year-old Aponte and wounded Wright and the couple’s 3-year-old child.

Police said a car Aponte was driving was chased across several South Side streets by two cars, one of which had May inside. Aponte ended up at a dead end on Mohawk Avenue, where, police say, May got out of a white car and fired several shots, killing Aponte and wounding Wright and the child.

A few days after the shooting, an arrest warrant was issued for May, but he eluded police until November, when he was found by U.S. Marshals in Minnesota and brought back to Youngstown. A grand jury indicted him in January.

A jury was seated Tuesday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum to hear the case.

Anderson was the last prosecution witness. The defense is expected to call an expert on eyewitness testimony before resting, then closing arguments will be held. It is expected that jurors can have the case to deliberate by early this afternoon.

Anderson interviewed Wright both in the hospital after she was wounded and two days after the shooting at the police department. Both times, he said, she was consistent that May is the person who shot her and Aponte and the child.

Under cross examination from defense attorney Aaron Meikle, Anderson also testified about serving a search warrant at the home of the person who police believed owned the second car that was used in the shooting. Anderson said police found a pair of Air Jordans at the home that matched a pair a witness on Mohawk Avenue said one of the shooters had.

Anderson said that Wright told him Aponte was feuding with someone over a video he had made. He also said Wright showed Anderson a YouTube video made by May that showed him holding a rifle similar to the one used kill Aponte and that May held the rifle the same way the person who fired the shots did.

Wright testified Tuesday that she knew May was the killer even though he wore a mask because she knows his eyes.

Anderson also testified under cross-examination that Wright may have recalled details differently when she was interviewed at the hospital and in a more formal interview, but she was always consistent that May was the shooter.

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