1 fatal bullet: State says all 3 suspects are guilty

By LEE HIGGINS - lhiggins@thestate.com

Brian Wright was a bystander killed in a shoot-out between rival Folk Nation and Bloods gang members last year at a Northeast Richland Waffle House, prosecutors said Tuesday.

While no one can say with certainty “who fired the shot that killed Brian Wright,” assistant 5th Circuit Solicitor Daniel Goldberg said, Eugene Patterson and Andre T. Boone both fired weapons — so each is responsible for his murder under state law.

“The hand of one is the hand of all, or the act of one is the act of all,” Goldberg told the jury during opening arguments.

Defense attorneys said that theory is exactly what is wrong with the prosecutors’ case — they just don’t know who fired the fatal shot.

Patterson, 18, Boone, 17, and Oliver Feldman, 23 — all of whom authorities say fired shots during the incident — are charged with murder in the Feb. 19 death of Wright.

Jerome C. Thompson, 20, faces charges that include obstruction of justice and possession of a pistol by someone under age 21. Feldman and Thompson’s cases are still pending.

Wright was found face down in a neighboring Mobil gas station parking lot on Two Notch Road. A bullet had struck him in the back of the head.

It all started when a Bloods member and Folk Nation member met in the parking lot for a fight, as Bloods gathered in the back of the lot and Folks gathered in the front, Goldberg said.

Boone wanted to protect a Blood who was being beaten, so he went to a car, grabbed a gun and fired two shots into the air, Goldberg said.

That prompted Patterson and Feldman to go to their car to get guns to return fire, Goldberg said. Both Boone and Patterson then fired multiple shots, Goldberg said.

Had they not fired their weapons, Goldberg said, Wright would not be dead.

Immediately after the shooting, Richland County sheriff’s investigators worked nonstop, said Patterson’s attorney, Tivis Sutherland, but more than a week passed and “they were hitting a brick wall.”

Investigators sat down with prosecutors, Sutherland said, and went from having no one charged to having three people charged with murder.

“They decided anyone who anybody says is discharging a firearm is a murderer,” Sutherland said. He called Boone, Patterson and Feldman “scapegoats.”

Wright “died from a single gunshot wound and it’s a tragedy,” Sutherland said. “They want to compound the tragedy by saying everybody’s a murderer. That’s not right, and it’s not American.”

Danielle Payne, one of Boone’s attorneys, pointed out there was one bullet, one victim and one murder — but three people have been charged with murder.

Boone couldn’t have been acting in concert with Patterson and Feldman, Payne said, because he doesn’t even know them.

“Three people have been charged in a crime one person committed,” she said.

Investigators will get on the stand, Payne said, and tell jurors “they do not know who took Brian Wright’s life.”

The trial is expected to continue through the week.

Reach Higgins at (803) 771-8570.