By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

Feb. 24, 2000

HAYWARD —Leaving his wife next to a ride on the Alameda County Fairgrounds midway, Sheldon Spicer set out on a quest for a corn dog.

Minutes later, Spicer stood with two small kids curled at his feet as two men scrambled toward him, a gun-waving man not far behind them.

"I was walking to the back of the fairgrounds toward the roller-coaster ride and shots rang out," Spicer told jurors Wednesday in the trial of the man accused of wounding 10 fairgoers in Pleasanton on July 4, 1998. "I heard four shots, then saw the crowd running toward me."

After more than a week of testimony from police officers who swarmed the scene after the shooting, prosecutor Michael Roemer unveiled Spicer's eyewitness account of the unfolding mayhem.

With people racing toward him -- scattering to escape a barrage of bullets -- Spicer said he kept his eyes trained on the gunman who followed the men between game booths.

"I believe he fired one shot as he made the turn," Spicer said as the defendant, Jamai Johnson, 24, along with two family members in the gallery, listened to the testimony.

As one man ripped through an alleyway, the other dove into the Bank-A-Ball booth and crawled behind a railing cover, leaving his legs exposed.

The gunman walked calmly over to the booth, Spicer said, outstretched his arm and opened fire.

"He was standing over the top of him and firing," Spicer said, pointing his finger at the courtroom floor. "Bam, bam, bam."

Spicer told the jury the gunman turned to him after the shooting and said, "'What are you gonna do?'" The gunman then walked away, Spicer said.

A former San Francisco transit police officer, Spicer said he followed the man toward the back of the fairgrounds where he watched the gunman hop over a wall. He grabbed Alameda County Sheriff's Sgt. Glenn Moon and gave chase.

"Sgt. Moon tackled the suspect from behind," Spicer said. "The suspect went after his gun in his waistband. I pulled back on the arm that had the gun."

The man was taken into custody, he said.

Johnson's attorney, Thomas Broome, tried to poke holes in Spicer's story, asking where he was standing, how far he followed the suspect, how many shots he heard and who he could place at the scene with certainty.

Broome asked why some of Spicer's testimony Wednesday differed from previous court transcripts. Spicer once told sheriff's deputies the gunman's pants were black, and his testimony Wednesday indicated the pants were tan.

At times, Spicer fended off such questions with questions of his own, once turning to the judge asking whether he could complete an answer.

"It's been a long time," he said on one occasion when asked to identify a person in a photograph.

Johnson is charged with 13 counts, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, possession of drugs and a gun charge. He is being held without bail in Santa Rita Jail.

Testimony from other witnesses will continue today.