It was a dispute over $50 among two groups running a fraud scam.
And it led to Ta’ronn Brown, 22, being gunned down three years ago followed by a gunfight at the Sunrise Pointe Apartments on Richel Drive in Port Orange.
McKenzy R. Nazien, 20, went on trial Tuesday charged with first-degree murder in Brown’s killing. Nazien is also charged with attempted first-degree murder because prosecutors say he shot at another man, although he did not hit him.
Nazien, whose address was listed at the Sunrise Pointe Apartments, was being held without bond at the Volusia County Branch Jail.
Circuit Judge A. Kathleen McNeilly is presiding over the trial at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand.
48 bullet casings found after gunfight
In his opening statement, Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak told jurors that Brown’s shooting on Sept. 1, 2022 turned a section of the apartment complex into a “war zone.”
Investigators recovered 48 bullet casings of differing types from the scene: 9mm, 40-caliber and .223.
Urbanak played a video of a Volusia Sheriff’s Office deputy who lived not far from the apartment complex. The image on the video showed the deputy’s peaceful waterfront back porch. But then suddelny the video captures the sound of a fusillade of gunfire.
The prosecutor showed jurors photos of shell casings found in the parking lot, of bullet holes in a car, bullet holes in a van and bullet holes in an apartment.
Urbanak said Brown was shot four times in the back. He said one of the bullets remained inside of him. It was a .40-caliber bullet.
Prosecutors said Nazien was armed with a .40-caliber and shot Brown.
The jury was also shown photos of Brown’s body sprawled on a sidewalk at the complex next to a pool of blood. Part of a .45-caliber Glock was visible tucked low in Brown’s pants.
$50 dispute leads to killing and gunfight
According to prosecutors, there were two groups outside an apartment at the complex that day. Most of the people in both groups had guns. The two groups were involved together and dividing the loot from a debit card, check fraud scheme.
But there was an argument over $50, Urbanak said.
And that led to Brown’s shooting and then the gunfight.
“He was gunned down in cold blood,” Urbanak said of Brown.
But most of the 10 or 12 young men in both groups said they could not identify the shooter.
The prosecutor said Nazien lied several times during a police interview, including when he denied being in a gold Lexus which had been at the scene of the shooting, even though police had evidence he had been.
Nazien also denied that he had been wearing a red sweatshirt even though police had not released to the public that the shooter was wearing a red sweatshirt, Urbanak said.
“He had something to hide,” Urbanak said.
Video of shooting deleted
The prosecutor continued that while a Ring camera recorded the group of young men gathered before the shooting and the aftermath, the actual shooting was not recorded.
Urbanak said someone deleted the video of the shooting.
Instead, the Ring camera recorded something else: A man stabbing the camera with a knife.
In his opening statement, Defense Attorney Philip Massa said that the prosecutor was asking them to convict without evidence. Massa said no one identified Nazien as the shooter. He said “one person came forward” but that person was not credible.
Massa repeated that the Ring camera did not record the shooting.
And he said there were a lot of people at the scene, two of whom were wearing a red sweatshirt.
“We don’t know who shot Ta’ronn Brown,” Massa.
He said Urbanak had not proven that Nazien had the gun or fired the fatal shot.
“All these kids had guns that were there,” Massa said.
The trial is expected to last for several days.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Man on trial accused of Port Orange murder that sparked gunfight