Emotional preliminary hearing held for Kingsessing mass shooting suspect Kimbrady Carriker
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The preliminary hearing Tuesday for a man accused of gunning down eight people and killing five of them in Philadelphia's Kingsessing section last year was deeply emotional.
The testimony took a packed, tense courtroom back to the early days of last July when police said Kimbrady Carriker went on a violent rampage.
A family member of one of the five people killed left the courthouse in an ambulance due to an apparent panic attack.
Another man was taken into custody for his outburst at the sight of Carriker.
The 40-year-old is charged in connection to a shooting rampage last July in Kingsessing.
Fifteen-year-old DaJuan Brown was among those killed.
Police testified the young man first hailed responding officers over to his 13-year-old friend who was shot in the leg.
Police officer Natasha Chestnut told the court while helping the 13-year-old, she heard more gunshots. The bullets, she said, struck Brown and he died on the street.
Emotionally distraught -- she testified: "I stayed with him because this is someone's child. These are people's kids."
Carriker's hearing on murder and attempted murder charges was delayed after he was deemed unfit to stand trial. He was recently cleared by physicians.
A judge ruled there was enough evidence to send the case to trial.
Police said 40 hours before Carriker opened fire near the intersections of 56th Street and Chester Avenue and 56th and Springfield Avenue, he shot and killed a man named Joseph Wamah inside his home.
Carriker was arrested close to the scene and police said he was armed with a camouflage-colored Glock and an AR-15-style firearm that was a ghost gun.
Officers testified at the time of his arrest, Carriker was wearing a camouflage mask, a bulletproof vest and had a cell phone broadcasting a police scanner.
Prosecutors said Carriker made an implicating statement when he was taken into custody.
"When he was apprehended -- he told the officer 'Good job,'" Assistant District Attorney Bob Wainwright said. "And he also told another officer, 'I'm out here helping you guys.'"
Defense attorneys declined to talk on camera.
But sources said they plan on focusing on Carriker's mental health as part of their defense.
