Testimony continued May 8 in the murder trial of Dominic Pressley, 39, with the state presenting several witnesses before the jury and Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Alan C. Lazerow.
Pressley is charged with first-degree murder, two counts each of attempted first- and second-degree murder, assault, and several firearm violations in connection to a triple shooting that occurred July 20, 2024 on the 2400 block of Loyola Northway. The incident left 30-year-old Alan Grant dead and two other victims injured.
The majority of testimony came from a woman who was present during the shooting, who testified that several people were gathered at her home that night for a birthday celebration. She said the group was partying, drinking and dancing before a knock at the door caused the mood to shift.
The witness said she recognized the person at the door as Pressley, who was her friend’s boyfriend at the time. She knew the defendant as “Nick,” she said. She testified that an argument broke out shortly after, and escalated into a fight. Grant allegedly entered her apartment through a sliding door, while Pressley stood across the hall near a neighbor’s front door.
Someone then swung at Pressley, the witness said, and he immediately began shooting.
“All I could see was the flash of the gun,” she told jurors.
The witness said she ran into the apartment across the hall after a friend, who she soon realized was bleeding. She then began fearing for her children, who were inside her own apartment, and tried to go back across the hall. When she did, she encountered another male friend who was lying on the ground, bleeding from his neck, while a neighbor applied pressure. She later returned to her apartment and saw Grant, fatally wounded, in her living room.
Prosecutors played a 911 call in court. Listening to the recording, members of the jury and the witness began to cry. On the call, a woman could be heard screaming while the operator tried to gather information and instructed her to apply pressure to one victim’s wound.
“He’s gone! He’s gone!” the caller said during the recording.
The witness testified that before the shooting, she was not near Pressley’s girlfriend until she returned from stepping outside to speak with Pressley after he knocked on the door. The witness said the defendant’s girlfriend told her she had been choked. The witness also testified that she did not see a gun before or after Pressley arrived.
Investigators later recovered Ring camera footage from the apartment building that showed Pressley knocking on the door before people began yelling. In another clip, the defendant’s girlfriend could be heard pleading with Pressley, saying, “Leave, please, just leave.”
Another clip also captured her saying, “He’s not about to shoot nobody in this b*tch.”
Further footage showed the surviving male victim approaching the door, stepping outside, and speaking to Pressley. The footage ended promptly after.
The day of the shooting, the witness identified a person said to be Pressley in a photographic array.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Angela Shelton questioned the witness about video footage that was missing from her personal Ring camera. Prior to questioning her, detectives had reportedly spoken with the Ring Company, which informed them that the footage had been deleted. The witness told Shelton her Ring camera had been in battery-saving mode, meaning it only recorded brief segments lasting several seconds.
Proceedings adjourned for the day. The trial is set to continue on Monday, May 11.
