Shawnfatee Bridges

Case details

Shawnfatee M. Bridges was sentenced to death on February 23, 1998.

Background

On Saturday, December 7, 1996, the girlfriend of Shawnfatee M. Bridges was robbed at gunpoint while she was staying at Bridges’s home. Bridges was working at the Casablanca Club and was not home at the time. When Bridges returned home, the girlfriend related to Bridges that during the robbery “a whole bunch of guys ran in with masks and hoodies."

The robbery involved the “Banks’ boys,” and the later killing of Damon and Gregory Banks was connected to that robbery.

Bridges also told others about the plan in terms of retaliation, saying he intended to take action because the perpetrators would try again.

Bridges’s trial testimony included a statement about the later shooting, including what he said happened after the van was pulled over to the side of the road.

The offence

On Sunday, December 8, 1996, Shawnfatee Bridges drove Bridges’s blue minivan with co-defendant Richard Morales to the home of a mutual friend, George Robles. Co-defendant Roderick Johnson was also present at the Robles’ home that day. When Bridges and Morales first arrived, they spoke with Co-Defendant Johnson, but soon thereafter, they called Robles downstairs.

Robles testified at trial that Bridges explained, “ . . . how the Banks’ boys went in his house with guns to his girlfriend’s head and his kid was there and how he was going to take care of them right now."

During the same conversation, Bridges said, “I gotta take them out. I am gonna get them and I’m going to kill them and I’m going to put an end to this forever. Because if I let them get away with it now they are going to try to do it again so I’m going to have to do what I have to do."

Robles testified that all three co-defendants tried, unsuccessfully, to convince Mr. Robles to join them. Despite Mr. Robles’s refusal, the conversation continued with all three codefendants saying, “we are gonna kill them. We are going to put an end to this."

At approximately this point in the conversation, Bridges pulled out a 9 mm. Glock handgun and continued to say how he was “gonna kill them."

As the planning progressed, the three talked about when the killings would take place. According to Robles, Roderick Johnson wanted to implement their plan immediately, but Bridges wanted to “wait until it gets dark because then we don’t have to worry about as many people."

Later that afternoon, at approximately 5:30, Bridges, Morales and Johnson arrived at the Banks’ house. Shawnfatee Bridges went in the house and talked with the victims, Damon and Gregory Banks. Before leaving, Damon Banks went upstairs and, unbeknownst to Bridges, loaded a.32 caliber automatic handgun which he took with him. The three codefendants and the two victims left the home of Damon and Greg Banks at approximately 6:00 PM.

All five of them left in the blue Plymouth Voyager owned by Bridges. According to Bridges’s statement, the five occupants of the van, “drove down Neversink, pulled in to a little cut in a road." Roderick Johnson was in the driver’s seat. Shawnfatee Bridges was in the front passenger seat. Richard Morales was seated next to the sliding door. Damon Banks was seated behind Roderick Johnson and Greg Banks was seated between Morales and Damon Banks.

According to Shawnfatee Bridges’ own statement, after they had pulled over to the side of the road, Roderick Johnson began shooting both victims. Then Johnson ran around the side of the van opened the door and pulled the victims out of the van and continued to shoot. Bridges stated that he saw a gun on the floor and began to shoot in the direction of Johnson. When Johnson began to run away from the van, Bridges returned to the van and left.

Bridges drove to a street corner in Reading and poured gasoline in the van and set a match to it, completely gutting the van. Bridges returned home.

Investigation

Members of the Exeter Police Department, the Reading Police Department, and the Pennsylvania State Police began the process of piecing together what had happened.

At approximately 7:20 PM, on the night of the murders, officers from Exeter arrived at the scene. They secured the area and began the process of collecting evidence. Among the evidence collected were eight 9 mm. shell casings. In addition, in a separate location, officers located a 9 mm. bullet and another shell casing.

Officer Rowe, of the Reading Police Department, was dispatched to the scene of the van fire. That night officers collected one spent shell casing and one shotgun. Investigators sifted through the charred remains of the van and discovered an additional bullet. Both of the bullets were analyzed and found to be 9 mm. projectiles.

The bodies of Damon and Gregory Banks were transported to Reading Hospital so that an autopsy could be performed.

Dr. Nell Hoffman, Forensic Pathologist, testified that the body of Gregory Banks was riddled with five gunshot wounds, with the most fatal being the two head wounds. He also testified that the body of Damon Banks sustained thirteen bullet wounds. One of the thirteen projectiles was bullet “D” which entered the victim at the back, right side of the neck where it severed the spinal cord. According to Dr. Hoffman, this instantaneously rendered Damon Banks a quadriplegic. Dr. Hoffman testified that the manner of death for both Damon and Gregory Banks was homicide.

Trooper Kurt Tempinski of the Pennsylvania State Police Laboratory, Ballistics Section, examined two bullets recovered from the van, two bullets recovered from the body of Gregory Banks, and eight bullets recovered from the body of Damon Banks and found that all the marks exhibited by the bullets were consistent with each other and therefore had to have been fired from the same gun.

Trooper Tempinski stated that, in his expert opinion, a Glock is the only weapon that demonstrates the particular markings found on both the bullets and shell casings recovered in this case.

Arrest and custody

Johnson was located approximately four miles’ away from the scene of the shooting, at the Queen City Restaurant. He was transported to the Reading Hospital, where the bullet was surgically removed.

Bridges called a friend of his to take him to the airport in Philadelphia, ostensibly to visit relatives, as news about the Banks shooting, the shooting of Roderick Johnson, and the burning of the van began to spread.

Bridges went to the home of Richard Morales and stayed there overnight.

People

• Shawnfatee M. Bridges — defendant; worked at the Casablanca Club; involved in the planning and the events leading to the shooting.
• Richard Morales — co-defendant; drove the blue Plymouth Voyager with Bridges and Roderick Johnson.
• Roderick Johnson — co-defendant; was in the driver’s seat; began shooting both victims; was later located at the Queen City Restaurant and transported to Reading Hospital.
• George Robles — mutual friend; was called downstairs during the conversation about taking action against the Banks’ boys; refused to join the plan.
• Damon Banks — victim; was shot; had loaded a.32 caliber automatic handgun before leaving the house, unbeknownst to Bridges.
• Gregory Banks — victim; was shot.
• Dr. Nell Hoffman — forensic pathologist; testified about the gunshot wounds and manner of death.
• Trooper Kurt Tempinski — Pennsylvania State Police Laboratory, Ballistics Section; testified about ballistic consistency and that a Glock demonstrated the particular markings.
• Officer Rowe — Reading Police Department; was dispatched to the scene of the van fire.
• Members of the Exeter Police Department, Reading Police Department, and Pennsylvania State Police — investigators who collected evidence at the scene.

Timeline

• December 7, 1996 — Bridges’s girlfriend was robbed at gunpoint while staying at Bridges’s home.
• December 8, 1996 — Bridges returned home, spoke with his girlfriend about the robbery, then later planned retaliation with co-defendants at the Robles’ home.
• 12 noon, December 8, 1996 — Bridges and co-defendant Richard Morales drove Bridges’s blue minivan to George Robles’s home; co-defendant Roderick Johnson was present.
• 5:30, December 8, 1996 — Bridges, Morales and Johnson arrived at the Banks’ house; Bridges talked with Damon and Gregory Banks.
• 6:00 PM, December 8, 1996 — The five people left the home of Damon and Greg Banks in the blue Plymouth Voyager.
• Approximately 7:20 PM, night of the murders — officers from Exeter arrived at the scene, secured the area, and began collecting evidence.

Other details

Bridges’s girlfriend related to Bridges that during the robbery, “a whole bunch of guys ran in with masks and hoodies."

Robles testified that Bridges explained, “ . . .

Robles testified that, during the same conversation, Bridges said, “I gotta take them out.

Robles testified that Bridges and the other co-defendants said, “we are gonna kill them.

Robles testified that Bridges, with a 9 mm. Glock handgun, continued to say how he was “gonna kill them."

Robles testified that Bridges wanted to “wait until it gets dark because then we don’t have to worry about as many people."

Bridges’s statement included that the van “drove down Neversink, pulled in to a little cut in a road."