Hawkins on Stand, Says Fatal Shot Was Accident

Taking the witness stand Tuesday, murder defendant James Hawkins Jr. staunchly maintained that gang member Anttwon Thomas accidentally shot himself with his own sawed-off shotgun in a struggle outside the Hawkins family’s Watts grocery in September, 1983.

During heated cross-examination later in the day, Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss hammered away at Hawkins’ credibility, at one point questioning why the defendant fled the shooting scene and failed to turn himself in to authorities until the next morning.

Collaboration Suggested

“Isn’t it true you were buying time so that you could collaborate with your brothers and sisters so that everybody’s story would turn out the same?” Giss asked in a raised voice.

“I’ve never collaborated with anyone,” the 41-year-old defendant countered, vehemently.

Hawkins--whose family gained national attention when the shooting incident precipitated two nights of gang violence against their home and business--told the Los Angeles County Superior Court jury that Thomas pulled a foot-long weapon from his waistband and that it discharged in an ensuing struggle which lasted from five to 15 seconds.

“I assumed he was going to kill me,” said Hawkins, who denied having actually pulled the trigger. “I was defending my life.”

Version of Events

Hawkins said that Thomas, 19, proceeded to run from the scene--at Slater Avenue and Imperial Highway--with blood dripping from his body. Hawkins, meanwhile, walked back to his nearby motor home, washed his hands and left the area on foot.

Even though he had acted in self-defense, Hawkins said, he fled because he thought authorities might be suspicious because he had two prior robbery convictions (in 1974).

Hawkins was not charged until several months later. He was arrested after a witness, who said he saw Hawkins shoot Thomas, testified at a preliminary hearing for 14 of the gang members who had retaliated against the Hawkins family.

Shortly after the gang attacks, but long before Hawkins’ arrest, Mayor Tom Bradley and police officials voiced support for the embattled family at a press conference at the grocery across from the Nickerson Gardens housing project.

Bicycle Incident Told

The incident occurred, all sides agree, after Hawkins and his father, James Hawkins Sr., 75, broke up an altercation outside the store in which Thomas and other youths were harassing a family that was riding bicycles down Imperial Highway.

But that’s where agreement stops.

Although Hawkins maintains he acted heroically, Giss contended Tuesday that Hawkins is “a hero in his own mind.”

The prosecutor argued that Hawkins, using his own sawed-off shotgun, shot Thomas in cold blood.

Hawkins, on the other hand, testified that the shot rang out as he tried to protect himself from Thomas, who died later that day.

According to Hawkins, Thomas ignored orders from Hawkins Sr. to stay away from his grocery and adjoining video arcade after the bicycle incident.

“I said, ‘I’ll get them off the premises, just calm down,’ ” Hawkins testified. The struggle ensued when Thomas again refused to leave, he said.

Viewpoint of Lawyers

Later, Hawkins’ attorney, Janis Rader, said, “I think his credibility was excellent.”

Countered Giss, “It’s an absolutely physically improbable if not impossible situation as to how the gun went off according to his explanation. And I defy anybody to believe it.”

The trial, which began in late June in the courtroom of Judge Ronald S. W. Lew, is expected to go to the jury within a week.