By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

Feb. 25, 2000

HAYWARD —For Keita Harrington, July 4, 1998, was supposed to be an evening of fireworks, friends and fun at the Alameda County Fair.

But only minutes after walking into the Pleasanton fairgrounds, Harrington's Independence Day festivities came to a terrifying and painful end.

"I was standing talking to a friend of mine and noticed a group of men standing to my left," the 19-year-old Oakland woman said. "As they got louder, I turned my attention to them. They sounded violent."

On Thursday, during the second week of testimony in the trial of the man accused of wounding 10 fairgoers, Harrington and one other shooting victim gave jurors a front-row seat to the chaos.

First, a garbage can flew into the air, and then came the flying fists, said Harrington, recalling the escalating melee as defendant Jamai Johnson, 24, looked on from across the courtroom.

As the confrontation brewed, Harrington's friend tugged on her arm, pleading with her to run, she said.

"As she grabbed my arm, that's when I heard the gunshots," Harrington said. "As I turned, I felt the bullet go into my back."

Nearby, a Modesto teen-ager was sitting on a bench in the warm summer night when shots rang out. The boy is not being identified because he is a juvenile.

"Someone started shooting people," the 14-year-old told jurors. "There were lots of people running. We saw the bullets hitting the ground."

About 10 feet from where he had been relaxing seconds before, the teen suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his right leg. He, too, had been shot.

As hundreds of holiday revelers bolted from the carnival, the teen and Harrington dropped to the midway asphalt, injured.

"I couldn't actually believe I had been shot," Harrington told jurors. "When the bullet hit me, it felt like a rock."

Never losing consciousness, Harrington watched the crowds scatter as though they were in slow motion. She snapped back to reality, feeling the bullet lodged in her abdomen with every labored breath.

Harrington was rushed to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where she underwent surgery to remove the bullet that ripped through her kidney.

The teen was scooped up in the confusion and carried to the bumper cars where police officers shielded him with a bench. He was loaded into a golf cart and taken to a waiting helicopter that flew him to Children's Hospital Oakland.

In court Thursday, both victims showed jurors the scars that are reminders of their ordeal. "I'm a stress case now," said Harrington, who suffered the most serious injury of those who had been shot. "I have developed a paranoia of crowds."

Neither victim could identify who fired the shots. Harrington said shots came from the direction of the arguing men, but she never saw a gun.

The teen did not know where the bullets had originated.

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

Testimony will resume next week.